A Flame in the Dark
by nalathequeen2186
Summary: When Eggman attacks a festival in the kingdom of Soleanna, the ruling Princess Elise finds her fate bound up with that of Sonic the Hedgehog. But with a mysterious figure roaming through time itself, and a fiery apocalypse lurking on the horizon, everyone must race against time to figure out the mysteries hidden in the past and avert the end of the world. (A Sonic 2006 Adaption)
1. Chapter 1

**My second game adaption, this time of Sonic '06! This is personally my favorite storyline in the entire Sonic series, I love this game with all my heart and I am hoping very much that my adaption will do it justice and breathe new life into a game that is often hated. As with my first adaption, updates will come every Monday and Friday until the fic is finished. I hope you enjoy reading this, because I certainly enjoyed writing it!**

* * *

 ** _Ruins of the old city, two hundred years after the apocalypse_**

Heat was all Silver had known for weeks - blistering, choking heat, filling the air from every direction, but coming especially from below, from the lava pits no one dared go near if they valued their lives.

Silver hovered high above such a pit, a vivid cyan glow surrounding his white form, amber eyes surveying the landscape around him - not that there was much to see. The sky was dark, even darker than usual, the only clue that it was night high above this world. Some people said that blue skies still existed, far from here, in the parts of the world least touched by the flames, but Silver had never seen such a thing. He wanted to believe in it, but when dark gray clouds were the only lid his world had ever seen, it was all too easy to lose hope.

The only light came from the glowing lava below, illuminating the ruins of the ancient city around him. The skyscrapers had long ago fallen into disrepair, mere shells of their former glory, scorched by waved of flame and devastated by the monsters that tended to hang around such places. No one had lived here in hundreds of years, he knew that much - the city's proximity to Iblis' supposed source of power was the only reason he and Blaze ever came here. Everyone else called them crazy, said they would as soon meet a fiery and painful end in the ruins as find their target, but they didn't listen.

"Die in here or die out there," Blaze had said to him once, folding her arms and staring out at the scorched horizon. "Either way, we die. At least in here we can try to do some good."

Silver had been asking survivors of this world all his life why things were as they were, burned, ravaged by fire, by flaming monsters that sprung from the ground in bursts of heat. He always got the same answers - evasive shaking of heads, vague mutters, and always, always a finger pointing toward the flames.

Silver's train of thought was interrupted by a sudden surge in heat. He glanced down and pulled back in shock, still hovering, in time to avoid a spurt of twisting flame rising from below. He concentrated what little mental energy he had left from keeping himself aloft, pooling it in his hands, and thrust them forward. A bolt of cyan energy lanced forward, cutting through the flame spout and dispersing it. He stayed tense for another moment, prepared for another, but after a few seconds let his hands drop, staring down at the place the spout had been a moment before.

These flames. The flames everyone always pointed to, burning away at the world, spreading across the globe slowly but surely, toward settlements, people, the mythical blue sky, consuming everything in their path. They would never stop unless someone took a stand, delved into mysteries no one else would touch. Unless someone found a way to permanently destroy the Flames of Disaster - the eternal life form known as Iblis.

"Silver!"

A voice, calling him from below. Silver spun midair and looked down - his partner and best friend was running along the rooftops of destroyed skyscrapers, coming to a stop at the edge of one just beneath him.

"Blaze," he called back. "What's wrong?"

Blaze threw a hand behind her, pointing back, her tattered coat flapping in the hot wind. "Silver, he's back - he's appeared again!"

Silver's eyes widened.

"Where? Back there?"

"Closer to the middle of the city. The big lava pit. Come on - we need to go, now."

She spun and began to sprint back the way she'd come. Silver concentrated the remainder of his energy, curling into a ball for extra focus, then released it backwards - he went rocketing forward, able to keep pace with even her considerable speed.

"Wait!" he yelled down to her. "Just stop for a second, okay?"

She skidded to a halt, her boots kicking up the ash on the roof, as Silver landed next to her, cyan aura disappearing as his feet touched the ground. "Blaze - how can he be back _already?_ It hasn't even been a week."

"I know," she said grimly.

Silver had barely opened his mouth to respond when the concrete of the roof beneath them erupted in flame. A fire worm's head burst out, followed by the rest of its body, rooted by a smoldering tail in the ground beneath it, its fiery mandibles hissing ominously. Silver and Blaze barely hesitated. Blaze's fingers alit with flame, which she wrapped the worm in, overpowering its relatively weak heat, while Silver grabbed the nearest bit of rubble with his mind - it glowed the same color as he had a moment before, and he launched it at the worm, which screeched and collapsed, disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Blaze turned back to Silver, entirely unfazed - they'd been fighting these things long enough, after all. "Come on, Silver. We can discuss this _after_ we've taken care of Iblis."

Silver stared at her a moment longer before nodding and taking off running behind her, further into the heart of the city. She was right. She usually was.

* * *

Blaze had first seen Iblis' rising form from afar. She and Silver had split up earlier that evening to survey the landscape - look for any signs of Iblis' weaknesses, take out any of Iblis' monsters that they could to prevent them from spreading beyond the city ruins, the usual. And then she'd seen it, a familiar flaming figure climbing up from the lava pits some distance away.

Silver was right - there was no way Iblis should be back already. Their last battle with it had been only five days ago by her count, and the one before that spaced by another week, taking it down again and again as they traversed the abandoned ruins of the city. It was exhausting, thankless, lonely work, but they had come too far here to give up. Blaze was ready to stay in these ruins for the rest of her life trying to find a way to end this nightmare, and she knew Silver was too.

She felt better with him at her side as they ran together along the destroyed roads, fighting the monsters that cropped up in their path with an ease borne of years of practice. Blaze owed him a lot, most of all his friendship - the least she could do was stay with him as often as possible. She knew he often got nervous on his own.

Blaze leapt into the air and spun like an airborne top, striking hard against the head of a fire lizard which was spewing sparks in her direction. Her own variety of flame engulfed her body and cut through that of the corrupted creature, dissipating it into smoke. Silver was off to her right, picking up abandoned cars and bits of rubble with his psychokinetic abilities and smashing them into every enemy in his wake. Despite his naïveté, he was quite the power fighter - he'd saved her from a nasty end at the hands of a fire golem or worm too many times to count.

One last hard kick to the body of a lizard left them standing amidst puffs of smoke and scorched pavement, breathing hard. Blaze glanced back at Silver to see his psychic aura fade and his form sag slightly, recovering from the expended energy.

"Come on, Silver," she said, striding back to him. "Iblis isn't far from here. We need to hurry."

"I know," he said, raising his gaze to the edge of the chunk of pavement they stood on. Not far ahead, it cracked and dropped off into the pits below, but at least here they were offered some scant shelter from the endless, sweltering heat.

Not for long, though - not with Iblis so near.

They took off again, heading for the next solid foothold closer to their target. Silver lifted a chunk of rock and sent it flying into a precariously balanced piece of highway still suspended above the pit, and it wobbled, then tilted, sending ancient burned-out shells of cars sliding down, slamming into a couple of lizards hissing and pacing at the edge off into the fiery abyss below. Blaze took a running leap onto the road while Silver simply floated over, and before it could crack and topple over completely, they made their way over to the closest stretch of solid ruins, occupied by more monsters.

Endless, endless. They came from the flames - defeating them made no dent, they could easily reform after a time just like their creator. Blaze tried not to think about it and focused on striking them where it hurt. Worms, lizards, phoenixes spitting fireballs and giant golems throwing chunks of burning rock, all of them she dodged and struck back just as hard with her own flames as Silver fought at her side. He stunned a golem with a heavy blow from flying debris, and she finished it off with a kick to the exposed core of its head.

It was a familiar dance, and soon the way ahead was clear again. There was no way forward on the low road from here, so they began to climb - ruined buildings providing exposed struts to climb, Silver grabbing her hands and floating her across gaps she couldn't jump on her own. They ended up on the top of the building to their left, and leaning against it was a toppled skyscraper, providing a downward sloping path directly to their target.

"You can see him from here," Blaze said, pointing. A cluster of still-standing buildings partially blocked the view, but just beyond them she could make out the top of Iblis' head. Silver stood beside her, gazing outward.

"Yeah, I see him." He clenched his fists and glowed faintly. "Just lead the way."

More monsters awaited them on the trek down the slope of the building. Blaze rushed ahead, taking out the smaller ones in her path and ducking underneath a large intact pipe resting lopsided against a bit of rubble. Behind her she could hear the sounds of Silver shouting as he heaved chunk after chunk of debris into the creatures, and hisses filled her ears as their flames dispersed into the air. She paid his shouting no mind until she realized he was yelling her name.

"Blaze! Jump - NOW!"

She did so without thinking, leaping as high as she could, and the pipe she'd passed rolled underneath her, slamming into every creature in its way and sending them flying off the edges of the skyscraper, or else crushing them back into smoke. She landed and twisted to look back at Silver - he was standing and rubbing his hand at the back of his neck, looking a little abashed.

"Sorry," he said. "There was no time to warn you…."

Blaze straightened her coat. "I thought it was a good idea."

"Oh - yeah?"

"It worked, didn't it? Now come on. It's just a little further."

Silver nodded, his expression hardening once more, and raced on ahead. Blaze let a small, rare smile cross her face before following. He tried so hard. With him at her side, Blaze could almost believe that saving this world was possible.

* * *

The winds had begun to pick up as Silver and Blaze made their way through the ruined city, and some of them were definitely filled with more than dust and ash. Soft flames, too soft to burn, had begun to spiral around the area, all spinning around one central point - their target.

He and Blaze ran on, destroying some monsters in their path and leaving others for later in their haste - now that Silver knew where Iblis was, his blood had begun to boil. This being he hated with every fiber of his being was waiting for him, practically begging for another fight, and Silver wouldn't hesitate to give it to him.

A distorted roar echoed out across the city ruins, and as Blaze took care of the last few phoenixes in their path Silver raced on ahead, conserving his mental energy for his true target. He sprinted around a corner and immediately skidded to a halt, Blaze coming up on his right side.

Directly in front of them lay a huge lava pit, the air above it shimmering with intense heat. And standing in the center of it, unaffected by the molten mass (or more likely, Silver thought, drawing strength from it), stood an almost unimaginably huge creature, easily taller than every skyscraper around it. Its skin was made of black rock, cracked to show glowing, solid flame swirling on the inside. Horns grew from its face in haphazard locations, three poisonous green eyes stared down at them, and though its mouth was rimmed with sharp stony teeth, the real danger looked like its four arms, each ending in a clawed, blazing hand. It let another roar loose at the sky, shrieking so loud it would easily have been audible from the outskirts of the city.

Silver and Blaze stumbled back as a force of hot wind hit them, emanating from Iblis' rocky mouth. Silver was the first to recover, readying his hands and his mental energy as Iblis stared down at the two with its three eerie eyes.

Rage was all Silver knew as he screamed up at it. _"Come on, you monster!"_

It responded with a gravelly growl, opening its mouth and blasting them with more hot air.

"Silver," Blaze said, staring up at it, "this is all you. I can't fight him from here."

He glanced over at her and nodded. She was a close-quarters fighter. From here, he could hit Iblis at range.

"Don't worry," she said, spinning on her heel and walking back the way they'd come. "I'll make sure none of his minions sneak up on us while you take him down."

"Got it."

Silver grabbed a nearby bit of rubble with his psychokinesis and held it there, watching Iblis. It bent low, baring its teeth at him, clearly recognizing him as its main challenger. Just as the crust covering the top of its head came into view, Silver let his missile fly, striking it squarely and causing the rock to crack, just a little. It was a game he had played many times, one that Blaze had once amusingly called "Whack-an-Iblis," and he was practiced at it from years of experience. Before Iblis could raise its head he flung several more solid bits of stone, creating a sizable dent in his head plate before it reared back and shrieked at the sky.

"Hah!" Silver yelled. "How do you like _that?"_

Iblis responded by flinging its arms back and thrusting its chest forward. From its molten midsection, several flaming boulders each easily as big as Silver himself came rocketing out, straight toward his position on the ground. He leapt into the air and hovered, avoiding the boulders as they crashed down on the pavement he had been standing on, scattering bits of hot rock everywhere. Several remained relatively intact, fire still flickering over their surface, and he grabbed those and hurled them back at Iblis as well, breaking two of its facial horns clean off.

At the loss of its horns, only one still remaining on its head, Iblis glowed ominously brighter, and reached to the side. Silver watched, at the ready but still apprehensive, as it used all four of its hands to grab hold of a nearby skyscraper. With a deafening grinding noise, Iblis yanked the entire building straight out of the ground, and raised it over its head.

Silver swallowed and decided now was a good time to run.

He sprinted straight to the side at top speed as Iblis began to bring the skyscraper, which was already beginning to glow as his flames spread across its surface, down onto the pavement. A shadow cast over him as he ran, and he pushed himself even harder, using his psychokinesis to try to boost his speed.

Harsh light bathed his form a split second before the building hit. A tremendous boom rang out as it shattered into chunks, and Silver felt the ground shift underneath him with the sheer force of the hit, throwing him to the ground. He rolled and managed to concentrate his power catching any stray debris that flew his way, but he'd avoided the worst of it. The gap he and Blaze had come through was completely blocked by tons and tons of rubble - if Blaze was still back there fighting, she'd find a way back over sooner or later, but until then Silver was now truly on his own.

He stood, still holding the bits of rubble in his mental grasp, and whirled on Iblis. Its size made speedy movements difficult - it was still recovering from the momentum of its last attack, so Silver seized the chance to hurl every bit of debris he could pick up at Iblis' head until he'd thoroughly exhausted himself. But it worked - the pieces crashed through its reinforced plating, and the last horn, as well as the last bits of solid rock, fell away entirely. Iblis let out another furious screech, the softer, glowing parts of its head now exposed to the elements.

Figuring he had a moment of respite to recharge, Silver breathed heavily and turned back to see Blaze already clambering to the top of the smashed pile of rubble and shattered glass from the skyscraper. "Silver!" she shouted. "Don't let your guard down yet!"

He whirled again to see that Iblis had recovered faster than expected - it was already rearing back once more to expel more flaming boulders from its chest cavity. Silver sprinted back to the rubble pile near Blaze as the boulders crashed down where he'd been standing, grabbing a few on the way over and flinging them back. Several impacted harmlessly onto Iblis' chest and arms, but two of them hit their target - Iblis' eyes.

It screamed, nearly blinded, but its middle eye was still functional. In a frenzied fury, Iblis began to lean forward.

"Silver," Blaze called from behind him, sounding nervous, "he's going to - "

"Just trust me!"

Silver knelt and flattened his palm against the large piece of debris he was standing on as Iblis' remaining good eye leveled with his face. The chunk began to glow cyan as Silver focused his power into it. Iblis' mouth opened wide just as Silver, concentrating hard, raised the chunk - and himself - off the ground, shooting upward.

Iblis spewed flames from its mouth at the rubble pile, seemingly oblivious that its opponent was floating above its head.

Then Silver stood and kicked downward, throwing all his mental energy into the kick and sending the chunk rocketing down, straight into Iblis' center eye.

The force of the blow crushed its head against the sharp remains of the skyscraper, so brutally it didn't even have time for a death scream. As Silver half floated, half fell back down to land next to Blaze, Iblis' body began to melt, chunks of solid rock falling from its form and splashing down into the pit below. As they watched, panting, its figure became simply a shapeless mass and dissolved into nothing but more lava, oozing into the pit and creating a strange whirlpool effect as its energy circled the area.

Around them, the firestorm continued, but weaker than before. Iblis' power here was already fading.

"Looks like we stopped it for now," Blaze said, staring down into the lava and folding her arms. She appeared entirely unfazed by the disturbing sight, but Silver felt a sick feeling beginning to rise up within him.

"Yeah," he said, bitterness coloring his tone. "But it'll just rise up from its ashes again."

"At least this counts as a victory, Silver. We haven't lost a fight with it yet."

"Yeah, not the one from a few days ago, or the week before that, or the week before _that…."_ Disgust and disappointment bubbled up inside him, into his throat, and in a sudden burst of anger he turned and slammed his fist into the concrete wall of the building next to him. "What's the _point_ of all this? It'll _never_ end! _Ever!"_

"Silver," she said tersely, but he ignored her.

"We've been fighting Iblis for how many years, and he _always_ comes back, and we're no closer to finding how to beat him and end this than we were when we started! And he's getting stronger every time, you've _seen_ it, which means we're running out of time and if we can't figure this out soon then he'll probably just get too strong and then nobody will be able to defeat him, permanently or not, and the world will end for _real_ this time! Blaze, we _can't!"_

"Calm down, Silver!"

 _"Then tell me what we should do!"_ Silver squeezed his eyes shut, blocking out the view of the devastated world around him. "How can we completely destroy Iblis? _How?"_

Blaze went silent, and so did Silver. He could hear her shuffling her feet around behind him, but didn't turn, just rested his forehead on the wall in front of him, fist still balled up against it.

He'd never before felt so hopeless. Blaze had called him naïve more than once, but it was always his optimism and determination that kept them going. He knew that. But now… even though he'd won the fight, he could feel the resolve draining out of him.

He couldn't keep going on like this forever.

It was a long, long moment before someone broke the silence - but it wasn't Blaze, or Silver.

"You need the truth, of course."

Silver's eyes opened.

"Just as a flower comes from a seed, or a chicken comes from an egg, everything has an origin."

Silver turned to find Blaze staring up toward the top of the rubble pile, and followed her gaze. Standing at the very top, looking strangely out of place in the destroyed landscape, was another hedgehog like him - only this one was black, with gray stripes running along his quills and limbs, staring up at the fading firestorm around the put. Unlike Blaze and Silver, covered in burns and scars as they were from a lifetime of battle, the hedgehog's fur was completely smooth and untouched. Even his shoes and gloves seemed spotlessly clean, and gray rings were fastened around his wrists and ankles. But the details that sent little shivers up Silver's spine was the fact that this hedgehog had no mouth - just a smooth expanse of skin across his muzzle, nothing more.

Silver stepped a little closer to Blaze.

"Who are you?" Blaze said. "We're supposed to be the only ones in these ruins."

The hedgehog turned his gaze downward slowly to reveal vivid green eyes. "I am Mephiles," came his voice, deep and somehow managing to carry easily over the noise of the firestorm. It seemed to emanate from him even without a mouth, and Silver wondered how. Perhaps it was a birth defect? Or perhaps he had some kind of strange power, different from the ones Silver and Blaze possessed?

"I'm Silver," he said after a moment.

Blaze nodded almost imperceptibly at Mephiles; Silver knew she wasn't keen on trusting strangers, least of all those in ruins such as these. "Blaze," she said shortly.

"I couldn't help but overhear your conversation," Mephiles said, eyes seeming to pierce through them. "And I believe I may have a solution for your problem."

"Is that so," Blaze said flatly. Mephiles just nodded.

"What do you mean?" Silver said.

"You wish to stop the Flames of Disaster from spreading?" Mephiles' gaze once more turned skyward, the firestorm from Iblis' latest defeat almost gone by now. "Then you need to find the being originally responsible for this catastrophe."

Silver's heart began to race again. "Is that the answer to our problem?" Silver pointed up at Mephiles. "Tell me - do you know who it is?"

Mephiles turned his gaze down slowly on them, Blaze, staring up at him with her arms defensively crossed, and Silver, hardly daring to hope.

"Follow me," he said simply, "and I'll show you."

* * *

Mephiles led the pair of them along several intact streets, walking quickly and decisively as if he was familiar with the terrain. This only baffled Silver further. No one ever came into the city ruins, no one except himself and Blaze anyway. Most people considered entering the ruins an automatic death sentence, filled as they were wit hordes of monsters, boiling lava pits, precarious drops, little to no food, and, of course, the rampaging form of Iblis itself. But Mephiles seemed almost at ease - and during the short walk no more monsters appeared. The ruins were silent but for the wind.

After a few minutes of walking, Mephiles stopped in front of a bit of cliffside, against which the city was set. Directly in front of them Silver could see that a hole had been drilled into the rock, with a bent, dented slab of metal lying just inside, clearly a door that had been smashed down long ago, judging by the dust and ash that covered it. Mephiles turned and gestured for them to follow him inside, and after exchanging a brief glance, Blaze and Silver followed.

The tunnel was dark, but Silver could tell that the rock walls soon turned to smooth metal, and a dim light was emanating from a door against the right-hand wall just ahead. Mephiles led them through it, into a room that seemed nearly untouched by the devastation just outside. Desks and filing cabinets lined the walls, chairs still pushed in as though the employees had simply left it behind at the end of an ordinary workday, and on the opposite side of the room a computer screen glowed softly. Silver knew that some parts of the world still had electricity, but he didn't know of anywhere nearby that did - he assumed this city's power supply would have cut off hundreds of years ago. Somehow, this one still worked, but the screen was currently black.

On the floor directly in front of the computer screen, a circle was set into the floor, looking smoother than the metal plating surrounding it. Silver wondered what it was for.

"What is this place?" Blaze said, staring around at the room as Silver followed half a step behind her. It was significantly cooler in here than it was outside, soothing after weeks of unrelenting heat.

"In the past, this room held a working teleporter," Mephiles said, gesturing at the computer and the circle on the floor. "It led to the military base on the mountain nearby. But since the disaster, it has remained defunct. The computer that operated it, however, still works."

"How do you know all this?" Silver asked in awe, moving forward to scuff his boot curiously against the edge of the teleporter circle.

Mephiles came up behind him, Blaze close behind. "Listen closely," he said, and Silver turned back to look at him. His eyes were intense. "This world exists in a timeline that should never have come to pass. So to fix this present timeline, you must _change_ the past."

Blaze furrowed her brow as Silver stared at him. "What?" he said blankly. "But… that's impossible."

"Not with my help," Mephiles said, gesturing to himself, "because I have the power to travel through time."

Blaze hummed doubtfully next to him, but Silver's jaw dropped.

"No way!" The power to move things with one's mind or summon flame in a world that was already full of it was one thing, but to manipulate time itself….

Mephiles moved closer. "In order to change the past and avert this future, you must eliminate the individual who awakened Iblis. The… Iblis Trigger, if you will."

Silver went abruptly still.

Blaze crossed her arms slowly. "'Eliminate.' You mean kill…?"

The only answer was a silent nod.

Despite the heat of the ruins, Silver felt himself grow slightly cold. For all his fighting prowess, he had never actually taken someone's life before. The monsters he and Blaze fought were manifestations of the Flames of Disaster, Iblis' power - defeating them only dissipated that power, leaving it free to reform again in the future. But to actually _kill_ someone….

Silver closed his eyes for a long time, then reopened them slowly. "So if we… eliminate… this 'Iblis Trigger'… our world will be saved?"

Mephiles nodded again. Silver glanced over at Blaze, who was watching him carefully, and he hoped very hard that she was not judging him for considering this.

"The Day of Disaster." Mephiles turned to the computer and tapped at the control board, and the screen went from a dim glowing black to alive and bright. "I have found records of the event on this machine. This is when Iblis was freed and his Flames released into the world."

Windows began to appear, one by one on the screen - photos of green hills burning in the distance, some kind of nighttime festival, a battleship painted in red and yellow - and, notably, a red-haired human girl in a white dress. Text underneath her photograph labeled her as "Princess Elise III, Reigning Sovereign of the Kingdom of Soleanna."

"Is she the Iblis trigger?" Silver said, already disturbed at the thought of having to kill someone such as her. She looked harmless, innocent, her eyes a bit sad - not the kind of person he would have expected to bring devastation to the globe.

"No," Mephiles said, and Silver turned to see that he was holding something in his hand - a large purple gem, pulsing with power. Even from several feet away Silver could feel the air tingling around it, washing over his skin and making him shiver slightly. Behind him, he heard Blaze gasp slightly.

"You have _this_ person to blame."

Mephiles held the gem out to him, and hesitantly, still uncertain what it was, Silver reached out and wrapped his fingers around it. He turned to Blaze, who looked somewhat shocked at its appearance, but she reached out and placed her hand atop the gem, so that it rested between their palms.

It began as a faint tickle, making him want to scratch his palm, but the power soon grew stronger, lancing along the cyan markings along his gloves, the ones that enhanced his abilities and allowed him to focus them so accurately. He hissed, the energy intensifying almost to the point of pain, and Blaze squeezed her eyes shut. And then Silver's vision began to waver, then dissolve.

All he could see was flame. It was an unwelcome sight after the relative calm of the teleporter room - it roiled everywhere, seemingly in absence of any kind of fuel but simply existing, as though the air itself was being consumed. And then he saw it - a speck of blue in the distance, growing rapidly. The flames flickered around it, but as it grew closer the form resolved itself into the figure of a hedgehog. Heart pounding, Silver took in every detail - the plain white gloves, red and white running sneakers, spines long and brushed straight back. Then the hedgehog turned, and Silver saw his eyes. Bright green, just like those of Iblis.

He gasped, suddenly standing back in the teleporter room. Across from him, Blaze looked about as shell-shocked as he felt. The vision had been so intense, so _real._

Silver stumbled back slightly, fingers tightening automatically around the gem as it threatened to slip from his grasp. It glimmered softly in the wake of the vision, still radiating the power it had transferred to him and Blaze. "What… was that?" he said, turning slowly back to Mephiles, who was watching the pair of them intently.

"That was the Iblis Trigger." Mephiles reached out and grasped the emerald, plucking it out of Silver's grasp and tucking it away behind him. "Your target - if you accept this task."

Silver dropped his gaze to the ground.

"Silver," Blaze said softly from behind him, and he glanced over his shoulder at her. "We've been searching for a way to end this nightmare for years. Now we're being given a chance to end it before it even begins. I say we take his offer."

Silver nodded slowly.

A fresh life… a new life. A life free of pain and misery and darkness, if he and Blaze just completed this one task. This entire world, everyone he'd ever known, erased forever for the greater good.

Well, there was no one left in this world for him but Blaze, anyway.

Silver raised his head and looked back up at Mephiles as Blaze stepped up beside him, looking resolute. "All right," he said. "We'll do it."

"Agreed," Blaze said.

Mephiles nodded in grim approval. "I will send us back in time to the point when the Iblis Trigger was still alive. But you should know - I can only bring us to his last known location before the disaster. You will only have three days to complete your task - else, the Flames of Disaster will be released at sundown on the third day, and our chance at saving this world will be gone."

Silver swallowed. "And uh, saying we do fail the first time - could you just bring us back to… try again?"

Mephiles stared hard at him, and he felt his face redden. "I would hope that you're not anticipating failure before your task has even begun, or else I have chosen the wrong champions for the cause…."

Silver averted his eyes. "Uh - no, of course, uh…."

"We won't fail," Blaze said next to him, and he wished he could have the same confidence her voice held.

"Then prepare yourselves."

Mephiles raised both hands in front of his face, and a ball of strange, swirling purple energy appeared in the center of the room. Silver stared at it, entranced, as it grew, spreading over Mephiles' form until it had passed over Silver and Blaze where they stood. Silver felt suddenly queasy, like he had eaten something bad, and a bitter cold washed over him. His vision dissolved again, but this time, all he saw was the energy, swirling around and around him until he wasn't even sure he still existed - and the world was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

**_Soleannan jungles, midday_**

Silver hit the ground face first.

He groaned, eyes squeezed tight shut. Every part of his body felt strange and twisted around, as though he'd been wrung out thoroughly like a wet cloth, and it took a few coughs before he was able to get his lungs properly working again. He braced himself and pushed himself to his hands and knees slowly, and only then did he realize that the ground felt… odd.

Soft, not like the hard rough pavement above the lava pits. Cool against his hot skin, damp with moisture - natural water didn't even exist in the city ruins, the plumbing having been scorched dry a hundred years ago or more.

He kept his eyes shut, almost afraid to open them. If Mephiles' power had worked right, he should be in the past now… but what was the past even _like?_

His other senses gave him an idea. He could hear a gentle rustling, feel a warm breeze ruffle the long fur at the back of his neck, smell something deliciously sweet on the air. A pleasant twittering came from overhead, high-pitched and melodious, and water lapped at a shore somewhere nearby. And he could feel warmth on his back - not blisteringly hot like the eternal lava and flame of the ruins, but soft, comforting.

Silver opened his eyes and scrambled to his feet. All around him the world was green - thick grass underfoot, trees and bushes as far as he could see, lush and untamed and beautiful, so beautiful. A lake shimmered nearby, the water clear and pure, not like the murky, scarce water of his home. And overhead, the sky - deep, vivid blue, just like in the stories, a bright circle of light shining just in the center. The sun.

His heart began to pound furiously. He'd seen pictures before - faded, torn, ancient - but none of them could possibly compare to seeing it with his own eyes, unfiltered, true. The world of the past, untouched by flame, so beautiful and bright….

Silver hardly realized what he was doing until his boots splashed down into the shallow water at the edge of the lake. He was laughing and crying at the same time, tears streaming down his face as he gasped for air, unbridled joy coursing through his body. It was the world he'd always wanted and never had, a world seen with fresh eyes, one he'd never gotten to experience the way he so desperately wanted to. He ran deeper into the water, stumbling slightly but relishing the cool feeling of it swirling around him, such an unfamiliar feeling after a lifetime of fire, and couldn't stop himself from sloshing further in until the muddy ground beneath his boots dropped off suddenly and he plunged beneath the surface.

Oh, right. He'd never learned to swim. How could he have?

Silver flailed, sputtering, and lifted himself out of the water with his psychokinesis, hovering just above the surface. Despite his brief dunking, he'd never felt more alive. He deposited himself on his back at the edge of the water in the long grass, mind cleared slightly by the unexpected cold, and stared up at the blue sky he'd never quite believed in.

This wasn't just a pleasure trip - this was the world he had to save. He had a duty, an obligation, to prevent this world from ever being destroyed, and he was going to eliminate the Iblis Trigger and create a brighter future for everyone, with the help of his lifelong friend Blaze -

Silver froze and sat up abruptly. _Blaze!_ In his state of near-bliss, he'd completely forgotten that Blaze and Mephiles should have come through with him. He leapt to his feet, water still dripping from his form, and stared around. Amid the green of the lush foliage surrounding him, he saw splashes of pink from large jungle flowers, the blue of birds flitting among the trees - but no telltale purple.

"Blaze," he called out, taking a few steps into the trees and starting to feel a little panicky. He and Blaze had hardly left each other's sides since they first met; they had been best friends for years, he couldn't just be stuck here without her…. _"Blaze!"_

Silence.

"I guess we all got separated," he murmured to himself. He couldn't deny the anxiety that such a thought left him with, but….

Silver shook his head. If he'd ended up here, Blaze must have as well. They must have just landed in different areas of this world. He'd find her eventually - but according to Mephiles, from this moment on, he had less than three days to complete his task. There was no time to waste worrying about being alone.

Now, he had to fight for the fate of the future.

He didn't know exactly where to go from here, but he knew he could figure it out. The past couldn't be _all_ jungle. Silver remembered the advice his father had given him when he was young, long before he'd ever ventured close to the city ruins: _if you are lost in the wilds, follow running water downstream to civilization._

He stared out at the lake. At the shore it seemed calm, but staring out to the center, Silver could see the faintest sign of directional flow, heading to his left. _Perfect._

Silver spun and took off following the shoreline, hoping it would lead him to the nearest settlement - and as he ran, seeking civilization and his quarry, his mind began to wander.

* * *

 ** _The devastated future, flashback_**

 _The young cat sat by herself against the inside of the farmhouse wall, abandoned long ago and roof long since rotted away, crying bitterly to herself. It had been a year - no, two years - since her powers over flame had manifested, two years since her community had kicked her out without even a morsel of food, shouting after her cries of "devil's child" and "Iblis spawn." She didn't even know what the words meant, but she knew that people hated her._

 _It was all because of her curse - the curse that brought forth flame from her hands with her anger or passion, the curse that caused her fingertips to burn painlessly. The others stared at her in horror whenever her flames manifested, and she had learned quickly that no one wanted her. She was tainted, worthless -_ worse _than worthless, actively harmful to others, she could never do any good in this world and it was better to just stay apart, live alone forever, never subject anyone else to -_

 _"Oh!"_

 _The cat's head snapped up._

 _At the entrance to the farmhouse - not that it mattered, with the opposite wall having fallen apart years ago - looking surprised and a little embarrassed, stood a pure white hedgehog boy around her age, maybe a little younger, with a splash of long fur around his neck. He wore gloves bearing strange cyan markings, and boots that looked scuffed up but well maintained. His amber eyes locked with hers and he blushed a little, rubbing the back of his neck._

 _"Uh, sorry," he said, his gaze dropping to the ground as he gave a quiet huff of laughter. "I didn't realize anyone else was in - "_

 _"Go away!"_

 _The boy looked back up in surprise at her outburst. She only glared at him. Once he realized what sort of monster she was, he'd just hate her and run away like all the others. She would rather save him the trouble and chase him away herself._

 _"O-okay," he said, looking disappointed. "I mean, I guess if you already live here - I did kinda just walk in without asking… um, does the rest of your family live here, or…?"_

 _"I don't_ have _any family," she hissed at him, baring her tiny, undeveloped fangs. "And I don't need any. No one wants to be around me anyway. Now just_ go."

 _She buried her face in her arms, tucking her knees in close to her chest, and did her best to ignore him. Instead of silence, however, she heard the sound of soft footsteps, and then a small scraping sound._

 _The cat raised her gaze just over her arms. The hedgehog boy was sitting in front of her, looking a bit sheepish. She glared._

 _"Didn't you hear me?"_

 _"I don't have any family either," he said, staring at the ground and smiling sadly. "It's okay. I know how it feels."_

 _She narrowed her eyes at him, and he blushed harder and began to speak very quickly._

 _"I mean, I_ used _to. I barely remember my first dad, he died when I was really little, but my other dad, he and I lived for a while with these others in a settlement away from here. He taught me a lot of things, but then - " The boy swallowed hard, looking pained. "Uh, monsters got him. I've been on my own for a while."_

 _He looked up at her. "That's why I was sort of thinking, maybe we could be friends? It'd be fun. We wouldn't have to be alone all the time."_

 _The cat looked away to hide the fact that her eyes were rapidly filling with tears. "I don't_ need _any friends," she mumbled. "You'd hate me anyway, just like everyone else does when they find out."_

 _The hedgehog's ears drooped a little. "Uh, find out what?"_

 _The questions, the insistence on talking, everything came to a head in her mind and anger blazed up from within her. The cat sat up straight and thrust a hand in his face, and it came to life with flame, flickering over her fur. The boy nearly fell back in shock._

 _"Find out_ this!" _she yelled at him. She let the fire burn for a few more seconds, letting him get a good look, before tucking her hand away underneath her other arm, the only reliable way she knew of to turn her power off. She curled up again and turned, leaning her head against the wall and refusing to look at the boy._

 _"See? I was born with this power, and it's bad. It makes me a monster. You probably hate me now. So just_ leave me alone."

 _She squeezed her eyes shut, the tears flowing freely now despite her efforts to stop them. She waited and waited, straining her ears for footsteps, maybe a gasp of horror or an exclamation of "Iblis spawn," but there was nothing, just some more faint scuffling. After a few minutes, her curiosity got the better of her, and she opened her eyes again._

 _The boy had moved to sit against the wall next to her, his hands folded in his lap and his gaze carefully turned downward. He looked conflicted._

 _"Why aren't you running away?" she snapped at him. "Don't you hate me now?"_

 _He raised his gaze to look at her, then looked back down at the palm of his own hand, covered in those cyan markings. "Uh, hey," he said after a moment. "Wanna see something cool?"_

 _The cat only watched him in suspicion, wondering what he was planning._

 _He pointed at something in front of him, and she turned her head to see a piece of splintered wood from the roof lying on the dusty floor of the farmhouse. The boy stretched his hand out toward it and closed his eyes - and to her shock, he began to glow the same color as the markings on his gloves. So did the plank of wood, which rose off the ground and floated slowly, shakily toward her. Almost without thinking, she reached out and grabbed hold of it, expecting it to fall back to the ground at any moment. It sat in her hands, solid and rough, and the cyan glow disappeared._

 _She looked over, eyes wide, to see the hedgehog boy staring at her, a smile tugging at his mouth._

 _"Pretty cool, right?"_

 _The cat looked back down at the plank in her hands. "How did you_ do _that?"_

 _He shrugged, clearly trying to project modesty and failing. "I started being able to move stuff with my mind like two years ago, I think. I would just think about it and it would happen. My dad told me it's called 'psychokinesis' and that sometimes, Mobians will just… get powers once they reach a certain age."_

 _The cat stared down at the piece of wood in her hands. Oh, what she would give to have developed a useful, innocent power like that…._

 _"Could you… I mean, do you think you could set it on fire?"_

 _She whipped her head back around to stare at him._

 _"You can control fire, right? Can you burn that?" The look in his eyes wasn't one of hatred, like she was used to, but… eagerness._

 _"Why would you_ want _me to?" she said suspiciously. "Everyone hates my fire. You… don't?"_

 _The boy shook his head. "It's just another power, right? People are scared of fire because of the monsters, but it's good for warmth on a cold night, good for cooking. Just because the monsters are made of fire doesn't make_ all _fire bad."_

 _The cat's heart started to pound. Her fingers tightened around the piece of wood, and a second later, flames started to flicker over its surface. The hedgehog clapped his hands together in delight._

 _"That's so cool!" he said, and the cat looked up to see a genuine smile spreading across his face. She blushed and then realized that somewhere along the line, she had stopped crying. On instinct, she tucked the plank underneath her arm, extinguishing the flames, and then set it down carefully._

 _"Um, you really think so?"_

 _"Yeah! Man, you could do so many cool things with that." He held his hand out to her, the same one he'd used to lift the board into the air. "My name is Silver. Silver the Hedgehog."_

 _She reached out her own hand, the same one she had shoved into his face alight with flame, and grabbed his, shaking it carefully._

 _"What's your name?"_

 _She mumbled quietly and withdrew her hand._

 _"Sorry, what?"_

 _"I don't remember."_

 _Silver's face fell._

 _"People have been calling me 'monster' and 'Iblis spawn' for so long, I don't remember. I don't know what I used to be called." She hugged her knees to her chest again and looked away. "So I don't have a name."_

 _Silver looked at the ground and they lapsed into a moment of silence._

 _"Well, have you thought about… giving yourself one?"_

 _She raised her gaze to his._

 _"My dads named me Silver because of my coloring, but you don't have to be 'Purple' or anything." He chuckled at his own joke. "You could choose something cool!"_

 _"I… could?"_

 _"Yeah! You don't have to pick right away. It's better to have a name that you like, right?"_

 _The cat tried to process this information. She'd been cursed, burdened with this, for so long, that it hadn't even occurred to her that she could just… name herself. Her mind raced, wondering what she could choose._

 _"And, uh… that offer of being friends is still open, by the way. I'm… to tell the truth, it's scary, being out here on my own. It's better to have a friend."_

 _He smiled at her, and tears welled up once again. This hedgehog boy was the first person to see her flames and not hate her for it. After so long of being shunned, cast out, abandoned… she could hardly believe that someone was bothering to make an effort at all._

 _So in spite of herself, she smiled back - the first time she'd smiled since who knew when - and said, "Okay."_

* * *

 ** _Soleannan shoreline, midday_**

They had hardly been apart since that first meeting, eight years ago - best friends for life, fighting together, surviving. A few weeks after they had met, she had decided to take the name Blaze for herself, determined to no longer view her power over fire as a curse, but as a strength, something that could help the world survive. She had learned control, learned to master it, and together she and Silver had become a fighting force to be reckoned with - even if the vast majority of people still didn't trust her.

Now, far in the past, far away from her own world, Blaze stared out at the endless waters, lost deep in thought. She'd landed here along on the shoreline, the sun shining bright in a deep blue sky above her, soft sand under her feet, the whisper of a cool breeze ruffling her fur. This new world was so different from the one in which she'd lived her whole life - she could hardly believe what she was seeing and feeling.

But mostly, she was worried about Silver. Blaze was more easily comfortable on her own than he had ever been - she knew he became easily anxious and insecure when left alone in a strange place. She knew that her top priority had to be finding the Iblis Trigger - saving this world - but it wouldn't do to leave her partner lost in this unfamiliar world. She had to find him so that they could complete their task as soon as possible.

Blaze's eyes drifted closed, shutting out the impossibly idyllic view in front of her and bringing the vision of the Iblis Trigger back to the forefront of her mind. A blue hedgehog - he looked harmless, but she knew that looks could be deceiving, and anyone could turn out to be dangerous. Whatever the price, they had to eliminate him.

That part concerned her the most. Silver was such a kind, sensitive soul - she didn't know if he would have what it took to end someone else's life.

She had to find him.

Blaze opened her eyes once again and stared at the ocean. She could run in one of two directions along the shore, and a third direction directly away from it, but she had no idea which way would lead her to civilization, or to Silver. She would just have to make her best guess.

So Blaze took a deep breath, turned so the water was washing up on her right, and began to run.


	3. Chapter 3

**_Soleanna Castle Town, near midnight_**

Lights glittered and sparkled joyfully on the waters in the canals running through Soleanna's Castle Town. A dazzling bouquet of fireworks boomed out over the heads of the crowd gathered at the water's edge to watch the parade floats go by along the canals, and the air was alive with the sounds of chatter and laughter.

It was the annual Festival of the Sun, the traditional Soleannan holiday held over the course of the summer solstice, from midnight to midnight - and, of course, an incredibly popular tourist attraction. Full of lights, feasting, and games, it was the most important holiday in Soleanna.

In the center of Castle Town was where the crowd at the edge of the railings was thickest. The canals throughout the city's districts came together to form a perfect circle of water, and standing in the middle was a small platform, intricately twisting wings encircling it, leading up to an unlit torch that rose high above the surrounding buildings. Six similar, but much smaller, torched extended in a star formation from the platform. Everything was carved from white stone that reflected the light around it, old, but very well maintained. The altar was beautiful.

Princess Elise hated the sight of it.

She stood at the head of her gleaming white boat, carved to evoke the imagery of a soaring bird, in full view of the crowds. Behind her, dancers twirled and leapt, their orange and yellow skirts fanning out like bright flames. Citizens cheered as she passed, people reached out to her as she waved, everyone jumped for joy as she smiled back at them. She was grateful for the lack of electronics at such an event. A camera would have caught that her smile didn't extend to her eyes.

Far from being her favorite holiday, the Festival of the Sun was the one day of the year that she dreaded the most. Happiness was not an option for her - the traditions and duties she held during the festivities brought up too many painful memories and feelings for her comfort - but the display of negative emotions was completely off limits.

 _Smile. Smile. Don't let them see your doubt. And whatever you do, don't cry._

The royal float came to a gentle stop just in front of the altar, and Elise heard the soft rustling of her handmaidens' robes as they stepped up behind her. Carefully, she stepped forward, and the cheering began to die down. At the head of the altar, the ancient head priest of Soleanna awaited her, adorned in his finest white robes, kneeling on both knees and bowing his head in respect at her approach. Elise's heels clicked on the stone as she stepped closer, and when she came to a stop, a hush came over the crowd.

Behind her, Elise heard a second set of footsteps, and the barest sound of flame. She winced, the familiar heat pooling in her chest. She swallowed and forced it down.

The handmaiden stepped up beside her, holding a torch shaped like a twisted, beautiful lattice of tree branches. A small flame, no bigger than her hand, burned merrily in the center of it. As Elise reached out to take it, the base uncomfortably warm in her hand even through her thin silk glove, lights all around the water began to dim, until the torch was the brightest source of light in the entire city.

Elise stared into the flame, hoping that maybe this year would be the year it stopped. Maybe this year it wouldn't happen. She was suddenly transfixed, full of equal parts desire and fear, lust and loathing -

 _The fire grows in her eyes, bigger, hotter, and the torch slips from her grasp but does not hit the ground. Hot, roiling walls of flame rush through the streets, burning all in their path, flickering even along the water until it evaporates in a flash and her city disappears, consumed by destruction. Gravity loses its hold on her and she floats upward, until all of Castle Town lies before her, the buildings crumbling, exploding, sparks filling the air._

 _Her dress flaps around her knees in the scorching updraft, her decorative hair feathers come loose and burn to a crisp in an instant, but through all of it, she makes no sound, just watches her kingdom burn._

 _Far in the distance, in the hills surrounding the torn, she sees a massive, swirling column of flame, rising from the ground into the dark clouds above. In the center of it rises a beast of unimaginable size, towering over the tallest skyscraper in the New City, glowing with fire and hate. Horns grow from its face like ugly thorns, and three green eyes at the top of its head open and slitted pupils focus directly on her._

 _Then it opens its mouth with a tongue of lava, and screams, the sound so piercing she expects her eardrums to burst -_

"Miss Elise?"

Elise gasped and started, coming abruptly back to herself. She was still standing on the altar platform in the center of the water, all eyes of the crowd on her, watching, some murmuring in vague confusion. Nothing had changed.

Another vision. The same one she had every year.

She took a deep breath and turned her head toward her handmaiden, who was standing at her right shoulder and looking concerned. But not surprised. "I-it's all right," Elise said, her heart still racing, but doing her best not to show it. "Just another episode."

The handmaiden nodded and stepped back again, letting the hood of her robes shadow her face.

The first time it had happened, she had only been a girl of seven, her first lighting of the torch on her own, far too soon. She'd dropped it and begun screaming, stumbling back and nearly toppling into the water, and the handmaidens had been forced to escort her back to the castle to calm down while the priest himself completed the ceremony. She hadn't cried - she'd thought it had been some sort of terrible waking nightmare brought on by bad memories. But it had returned the next year, and the year after that, until ten years later it was simply a normal part of her parade routine, something to be dealt with and then cast aside to be processed once all eyes were no longer on her. She had no other choice, for the good of her kingdom.

Elise turned her head back to the torch even as every fiber of her body screamed at her to drop it and run (but part of her wanted to stay and caress it) and composed herself, hoping the crowd would dismiss it as a quick bout of daydreaming typical of a teenage princess.

She bowed forward to the altar, and in front of her, the priest did the same, still on his knees.

Elise closed her eyes as the three clocks at three edges of torn began to chime midnight, and spoke the traditional words of the altar-lighting ceremony.

"We give thanks for the blessed flames. May we always continue to have peace. Sun of Soleanna, Solaris everlasting, guide and watch over us with your eternal light."

The priest rose and stepped aside, and Elise moved forward. At the final chime of the clocks, she lowered her torch - wooden, mechanical, hating every movement - and touched the flame to the small plate in front of her.

Instantly, fire began to race along the wings of the altar, illuminating them in delicate yellow-white. The crowd gasped in delight as the strands of the wings led the fire to the six smaller torches, and finally up to the central one, coming alive high above her head with a _whoosh._ Elise kept her eyes closed for a moment and heard the crowd begin to cheer and scream, heard the sudden loud _pop_ as confetti exploded outward above their heads, and the booming of more fireworks in the sky.

The worst was over, at least. She turned, ignoring the fire as best she could, and plastered the biggest smile she could muster on her face. _Only twenty-four more hours,_ she told herself over and over as she waved at her subjects and the tourists who had come to see her, _that's all I have left until I can go back to bed and feel numb and hate this festival in peace…._

Everyone was so caught up in the atmosphere of ecstasy and joy that no one noticed the battleship hanging just over the horizon.

 _BOOM!_

Elise felt herself thrown off her feet as a wave of heat and pressure washed over her. She coughed, gasping for air, and raised her head in time to see the missiles fly - crashing into buildings, pavement, the altar over her head. Chipped stone broken free by the blasts showered her from overhead, and she threw a hand up in blind fear to protect her face.

Someone grabbed her arm, and she twisted to see her handmaiden, the one who had handed her the torch, hood thrown back in the chaos, holding on to her with a look of wild terror in her eyes. She grabbed back, saying automatically "It's okay, it's okay," even though Elise herself had no idea if it was or not.

The blasts had stopped, but now the screams had started, the crowds jostling each other as people scrambled to flee the scene. Elise got unsteadily to her feet, giving the handmaiden a hand up. The priest, her other handmaidens, everyone on the altar seemed uninjured, but the boat that had brought her there had been hit, and was sinking into the water in splinters. And then Elise looked up and watched in wide-eyed horror as above the city, a dark battleship hovered, panels on the underside sliding open.

Metallic white forms dropped from the inside of the ship, unfolding themselves midair into bipedal, vaguely humanoid shapes, landing on the railing surrounding the altar platforms so hard that the stone cracked - robots, machine guns and missile cannons fixed onto the ends of their arms, pointing at Elise and the others. They huddled around her in the center of the platform, and her heart pounded.

Elise looked back up in time to see something else emerge from the battleship's dark interior, some kind of vehicle floating down gently on twin engines attached to either side, its shiny metal underside reflecting the fires and damage around her city. It lowered itself directly in front of her, and she watched, tense, full of fear, as it finally came to a stop inches above the stone platform, revealing who was inside.

A man - tall, fat, bald, with an enormous orange mustache. Dark blue glasses obscured his eyes, and he wore a red coat held in place with gleaming gold buttons. He was bent forward in a mocking bow, and as his machine came to a stop he straightened up and fixed his gaze on her with a smile.

"A pleasure to meet you at last, Princess of Soleanna," he said, extending a hand out to her as though to shake hers. She remained where she was, and he retracted it after a moment, folding his hands behind his back. "I am Dr. Eggman, and I've come here to obtain the secret of the Flames of Disaster from you."

Cold and heat spread through Elise's body simultaneously - cold fear, hot desire. She sucked in a breath, hoping to cool the latter, but the scent of smoke was heavy on the air.

"And," the doctor continued, barely able to mask a demeanor of gleeful superiority, "to take the miracle gems that are the key to its secret…."

He smirked at her as, almost unconsciously, her hand reached for the pocket of her festival dress, slipping inside and wrapping her fingers around the jewel that rested there, the blue jewel she always carried with her, her lucky charm….

"…the Chaos Emeralds."

She clutched it harder.

Dr. Eggman stretched his hand out to her once more, this time palm up, as if to give her a hand up onto his floating vehicle. "Now, princess, this way please."

She stared up at him, one hand over her heart, the other in her pocket holding the emerald, fear flooding her veins. How was she supposed to handle this? No one ever attacked Soleanna - they were a peaceful nation, small, unassuming, no real military to speak of, and in one fell swoop this man, this Dr. Eggman had isolated her from her guards and subjects, to kidnap her… for the Flames of Disaster?

Her heart rose into her throat. She opened her mouth to speak and choked on fear, and found herself stumbling back, toward her handmaidens, shaking her head wordlessly.

Trapped - terrified - and surrounded by fire….

A strand of auburn hair fell into her face, blown astray by the hot winds. Then another, and another - and Elise realized with a shock that it was not just normal wind. A bluish blur was shimmering through the air, circling the outer edges of the altar platform at a blindingly fast speed, whipping up an incredible wind. Gasps of surprise emanated from her handmaidens behind her, and the doctor suddenly stiffened where he stood on his vehicle, his brow furrowing, hand still outstretched in a beckoning gesture. Elise felt something, some strange feeling, tug at her, and spun, looking up at the tallest central torch, whose flame had been extinguished in the chaos - and abruptly, the wind ceased, and a small, spiky blue figure appeared at the top of the torch.

"My!" the hedgehog said, grinning down at the lower platform full of people, and at the doctor. "That's a pretty snazzy performance there!"

Elise gasped.

 _She sits against the tree, weak and tired, so tired, but fighting to keep her eyes slitted open. She sees the Mobian, the hedgehog, a being she's never before seen with her own eyes but which every human on this planet knows of, kneel down in front of her. His fur is soft and fluffy, his spines stand straight up at the front of his head, and as she fights back tears, determined not to let a single one fall even as her chest aches with emotions she is too young to process, he places a glimmering object in her hand, resting limply in her lap, and murmurs something to her._

 _Then he stands and leaves, and she never sees him again, for ten long, lonely years, until…._

"You!" she whispered. "It can't be!"

And - no, it wasn't. This hedgehog looked different. His spines were brushed back, casually windswept, and he wore sneakers, not boots. His smile was cocky and his stance loosely confident, and as she stared up at him, frozen in shock, his gaze locked onto hers. He winked.

Then his smile faded somewhat, and his eyes snapped over to the robots still standing on the railings - which were locking their cannons onto him.

Almost faster than Elise could follow, he leapt into the air, avoiding the blast from the missiles just as they impacted into the top of the torch. She watched in amazement as he flipped forward effortlessly, spreading his arms as though performing for a cheering crowd, and curled tightly into a ball and rammed his spines hard into the nearest mech. It crumpled, and he bounced form it to the next one, taking them out one by one in a blur, sending shattered bits of hot metal scattering everywhere. Elise's handmaidens yelp and shielded their faces behind their hoods, and the priest held his large hat over his head, but Elise stared at the spectacle in awe, unlike anything she had ever seen. The hedgehog seemed to have an aura of blue surrounding him, a shimmer of power that grew as he smashed every robot to bits.

He landed in front of the last one and the aura shattered, blowing the mech off balance so hard it snapped one of the metal wings on its back clean off, and straightened in front of it. Then he extended one sneakered foot and oh-so-lightly tapped the mech's exterior, and it tilted backwards, plummeting with a splash into the dark water below.

He leaned forward to watch it fall, then Elise gasped as he spin and came skidding to a stop directly in front of her, the grin still on his face. Everything he did was so fast - she could hardly keep up. "I'm Sonic!" he said brightly, and hopped forward. "Sonic the Hedgehog!"

Before she knew what was happening her feet had been swept out from under her, and she let out a small squeak before falling directly into his arms. "Don't worry, princess, I got ya!"

"Grrrah!" Elise had almost forgotten about the doctor in the commotion, but now he was growling in a fury, and she craned her neck to see him clenching a fist and glaring at the pair of them. "Not that irritating hedgehog again! I should have known!"

"Sorry, Eggy," Sonic said, and Elise squeaked once more as he bounced her a little in his arms. "Afraid the game ends here!"

More robots began to descend from the battleship overhead, readying their cannons. Eggman bared his teeth and thrust a finger at the pair of them, shouting, _"Blow him to bits!"_

Elise threw her arms around Sonic's neck on instinct just as he took off, and the breath disappeared from her lungs. He leapt off the platform, landing on the cracked and damaged pavement beyond - long since cleared of festival-goers in the panic - and began to run at a speed she hadn't even known a living being was capable of. Blasts echoed out behind them as missiles followed them down the walkway, heat washing over them, but none came close to hitting them. Elise screamed, but even through her terror, something inside her came alive.

For usually being her most hated day of the year, this particular Festival of the Sun had certainly become a lot more interesting.

* * *

Given how the past four years of his life had gone, Sonic should have known he couldn't take a single peaceful vacation without Eggman showing up.

He'd arrived in Soleanna that morning with Tails and Knuckles to see the show. Tails had been interested in Soleannan engineering for some time, particularly the bits of info he'd picked up here and there about development of powerful prototype engines, and Knuckles had expressed a mild interest in their religion and many ruins. And Sonic? Well, Soleanna was wild and free, settlements few and far between. It wouldn't be hard to find places to run.

And run he did, though not under the circumstances he had expected - ran with a princess in his arms, clinging to him for dear life, until the altar was far out of sight behind them and the missile barrage had stopped. He slowed slightly, letting the princess catch her breath.

"Um," she panted finally, her eyes still wide with shock. "Why are you helping me?"

Sonic considered the question - one he couldn't recall anyone ever having asked him before - and shrugged as he ran. "No special reason."

"I'm - excuse me?"

"Ol' Eggy and I go way back. He hurts people, I help 'em, y'know? Plus, a rescue mission's always fun."

The princess just stared at him, short-cropped auburn hair fluttering in the breeze.

Sonic winked at her again, then turned his eyes back to the path ahead - and skidded to a halt immediately. Just ahead, more of those new white mechs were descending from the sky, landing with _thunks_ on the pavement. He'd never seen these models before - they must have been something Eggman had been working on for some time - but the quick fight at the altar had told him they were as cheaply manufactured as ever, mass-produced, overwhelming with numbers, not strength.

He set the princess down gently on her feet, with her wobbling a little on unsteady legs, and as soon as he was confident she wouldn't topple over he rushed forward. One of the robots raised its cannon and he leapt, smashing his feet into it easily and sending the cannon spearing through its torso. He flipped and landed directly between two others, paused for a split second, and jumped again. Staccato gunfire rang out as the robots shot at where he used to be, only to shoot each other to pieces instead - and with a grin, Sonic let gravity carry him down and curled in time to smash his spines into each remaining mech in turn, leaving nothing but scrap behind.

Sonic landed confidently in the center of the remains and dusted his gloves off, grinning to himself.

Then the princess screamed.

Sonic whirled in time to see that while he'd been distracted Eggman had arrived in his newly-remodeled Egg Mobile - much bigger and better armored than before, with metal claws extending from either side. One of the claws had grabbed the princess, and she struggled in terror, fruitlessly. Sonic ran forward, but the machine was already rising, high above his reach, Eggman smirking down at him from the pilot's seat.

"I'm afraid our little game ends now," he said, echoing Sonic's words from back at the altar. Sonic gritted his teeth - he'd just rescued a princess, couldn't he have five minutes of respite?

Then he noticed that the princess wasn't struggling mindlessly - she'd managed to free her right arm, and Sonic watched in amazement as she held something high above her head - a Chaos Emerald, sparkling blue and framed by the smoke drifting across the night sky from the ruined festival.

"Sonic!" she yelled. "Take this!"

She threw it with all her might - it traced a perfect arc toward him, and Sonic caught it easily. "Got it!" He studied it for a brief second - it really was the Chaos Emerald. He didn't know how a princess had come by it, but if the emeralds were involved, this adventure promised to be a good one. He looked back up at her, where even from here he could see her pale blue eyes staring down at him, scared but surprisingly resolute.

"And don't worry," he added as the Egg Mobile continued to rise, the battleship coming up behind it. "I'll rescue you!"

She nodded and placed a hand over her heart. "I know."

 _Confident, isn't she? Good._

Eggman _hmph'd_ behind her from where he sat. "It's only a matter of time before it's mine." He pointed down at where Sonic stood, a lone blue speck on the ground. "Until then, you can hold onto it for me."

The panel in the bottom of the ship - so much smaller and more compact than the original Egg Carrier back in the Mystic Ruins - slid open, and the Egg Mobile rose into it. And just like that, the princess was gone.

Sonic turned as the ship's speed suddenly picked up, blasting away from Castle Town, out of view behind a few taller buildings. He ran down the street after it, leaping onto an awning and from there up to a low building's roof - and stared in shock. The sky was suddenly empty, as though the battleship had never been there.

"How…?" he muttered.

Then he sighed. Well, there was no way he could track Eggman down now. All he could do was meet back up with his friends and rest for the night, and devise a strategy for tomorrow. So he spun back around, hopped down from the roof, and took off down the narrow streets once more.

* * *

Silver had seen everything.

He'd found the city just as the sun had begun to sink below the horizon, painting the blue sky with so many bright colors he'd been transfixed. And the city itself had dazzled him - so many people, all in high spirits, wearing colorful clothing and walking around talking, eating, and always, always laughing.

And the _food!_ The very first vendor Silver had approached, nervous, had welcomed him graciously, offering him food for free. Free! "Everyone's giving out free samples today, my friend," she'd said with the biggest smile he'd ever seen, handing him something she called "ice cream." "The Festival of the Sun is tonight! The biggest holiday in Soleanna. Everyone'll be there! I'm assuming you are too? Not many Mobians around here, but here in Soleanna we love newcomers."

Silver had gone from stall to stall, eating anything the vendors would give him, more food than he'd ever seen in his life. The smells, the sounds, the sights of the city were magical to him - he could never have dreamed of this life before the disaster, that people lived so freely and in such luxury.

And all around him, all anyone could talk about was this festival. He'd wandered for hours and seen no sign of either Blaze or his target, so he'd decided that if he'd find them anywhere, it'd be at the festival.

So when the crowds had begun to walk in the same direction, toward what appeared to be the center of the city, Silver had followed, feeling better than he had in years - full, strong, ready for anything. The festival had been beautiful, though the focus on flames had left him somewhat uneasy, and the princess was just as he had seen her on the screen of Mephiles' computer in his own time, pale-skinned, dressed in finery, jewelry glittering at her throat and on her ears.

The attack from the "Eggman" fellow had caught Silver off guard, but instead of fleeing with the crowds around him, he'd quietly lifted himself onto the roof of a nearby building and lay flat, watching the scene. And to his utter shock, the exact person he'd been looking for had arrived just moments later.

The Iblis Trigger.

The blue hedgehog had grabbed the princess and run off almost immediately, faster than Silver would have believed possible. Silver scrambled back to his feet and launched himself off the edge of the building as missiles blew chunks of pavement up behind the other hedgehog, and flew as fast as he could after him. By the time he'd caught up and landed on the solid covering of a bridge nearby, the princess had been taken by Eggman, and the Iblis Trigger had been left standing alone on a roof, staring after the doctor's ship.

Silver had no idea what Eggman or the Iblis Trigger wanted with a human princess - there was clearly more going on here than he knew of. But this was his chance - his chance to save the world.

Swallowing hard and readying himself, Silver leapt down onto the relatively intact pavement below, and took a few steps forward.

 _"Now_ I've got you, Sonic!"

Silver yelped as someone grabbed him from behind and hugged him tight, pinning his arms to his side. He looked around wildly, but whoever had grabbed him wasn't visible from this angle, and their grip was incredibly strong, holding him in place with ease.

The person shook slightly from side to side and said with glee, "I knew I'd find you here! I got your invitaaaaation!"

"Wh-what are you _talking_ about?" Silver gasped out, struggling to breathe in his assailant's grasp.

The swaying stopped, and a second later Silver found himself released. He coughed slightly, air flooding back into his lungs, and turned to see another hedgehog about his age, maybe a little younger - pink-furred, with her quills combed down into a headband and wearing a flaring red dress - staring at him in shock with big green eyes.

"Hey!" she said. "You're not Sonic!"

Silver just stared at her, bewildered.

She flushed bright red, visible even in the darkness of night, and covered her face with her hands. "Oh, I'm _sorry!"_ she said, shaking her head rapidly from side to side. "How _embarrassing!_ Ugh, this isn't even the first time this has happened. First Shadow, now you, it's _gotta_ be some kind of record…."

Silver just stood where she had released him, feeling completely lost. "Ah, I'm…" he began, glancing back toward the roof where the Iblis Trigger stood - and froze.

"Hey! He's gone!"

The roof was empty, and so were all the surrounding streets. Silver looked around wildly, but saw nothing. All this trouble, and he'd lost his quarry anyway.

"He must have run off. Damn it…." Silver let out a frustrated breath and clenched his fists at his sides.

"I'm sorry," the girl said next to him, clasping her hands behind her back and looking distinctly sheepish. "Did ya miss someone because of me?"

Silver closed his eyes briefly and shook his head. _No need to get angry._ "Ah, it's okay," he said, turning back to her. "I'm sure the guy I'm looking for is still somewhere around here. I'll still be able to find him."

"Oh! Then I'll help you!"

"Wha-?"

Before he could react, the girl had bounded forward and clasped his hand in hers, smiling brightly. "Two heads are better than one when looking for someone, ya know!"

Silver held up his free hand. "Hey, wait just a s-"

"What's your name?"

She tilted her head, blinking her eyes at him expectantly, and he sighed, closing his eyes again. He'd been like this once, so determined to make friends with someone who seemed closed off, so determined to help. He couldn't just walk away from her.

"…Silver."

The girl nodded happily. "That's a nice name! I'm Amy Rose. It's nice to meet you!"

She began to tug at his hand, pulling him along, and he stumbled. His head suddenly began to spin, and before he knew it he was on his hands and knees, the world tilting dangerously around him.

"Oh!" He saw the hem of Amy's dress at the edge of his vision as she knelt down to check on him in concern. "Are you okay?"

Silver realized suddenly that he hadn't slept in well over a day - he'd been awake and active ever since he and Blaze had set out that night far in the future to patrol the city ruins. His legs felt shaky and unsteady beneath him. There was no way he'd be able to keep up with someone so energetic at the moment - he was literally falling over tired.

"I…" he said, pushing himself to a sitting position on his knees and shaking his head, trying to clear it. "I think I really need to get some sleep."

"Ooh, I didn't even _think_ about that." A hand appeared in front of him, thick gold bracelet around the wrist, and he took it and let Amy pull him to his feet. "I guess surviving a crazy attack on a festival will do that to a guy, huh?"

"…uh, yeah."

"Don't worry," she said, taking his hand again and beginning to lead him through the streets, this time much more gently. "I got us covered. I got a hotel room close to the pier - we can sleep there till morning!"

Silver opened his mouth, then closed it, deciding not to question it. He doubted anyone would believe him if he went around blabbing that he was a time traveler here from the future - it was best to pretend like he knew what he was doing, here in this world.

He wondered if Blaze was okay.

Further out from the ruined altar and the streets nearby, crowds of nervous citizens had formed. Chatter surrounded them as they walked, wondering why the attack had happened, if the princess was okay, if the city would survive. Humans in stiff green uniforms with (in Silver's opinion) rather ridiculous-looking tall hats stood at the edges of the crowds, trying to calm them, and in all the commotion Amy and Silver slipped through relatively unnoticed.

Silver was dead on his feet by the time Amy led him through a doorway into a tall building, and in spite of his exhaustion, he found himself entranced by the lush interior. It was small but so much richer than he was used to. Amy hardly seemed to notice, pulling him down a hallway filled with identical doors and reaching one labeled "016."

"Here we are!" she said, unlocking the door with a key she pulled from a dress pocket and pushing it open. "La Casa de Amy Rose! Well, la temporary casa, anyway."

The room was small but well furnished, a bed sitting against the wall, a couch against the opposite wall and a window looking out to a vast expanse of water beyond. The walls were painted a pleasant light blue and the carpeting underfoot felt like the grass of the jungle he'd landed in earlier that day. "It's so nice," Silver said, taking in a deep breath as he walked inside.

"It's a fairly cheap hotel, especially for having a view of the ocean, but I'm glad you like it!" Amy shut the door and gestured to the couch. "Feel free to crash there. In the morning we can get up and start our search! You help me find Sonic, and I help you find your friend."

Deciding not to mention that he was planning to kill said "friend," Silver collapsed back on the couch, boots and all, and nestled in among the pillows, amazed at how comfortable it was. Couches in the future were mostly threadbare, squashed-down things, ancient and hiding in long abandoned houses if not scorched into uselessness entirely, but this one must have been brand-new, at least by his standards.

As he lay there, staring at the ceiling, he couldn't help thinking again of Blaze, wherever she might be. Silver hadn't even been here a day and he'd somehow managed to make a new friend. Anxiety-ridden as he could often be, he was still better at making friends than Blaze had ever been. He hoped that wherever she was, she was doing well - and they would find their way back together here soon.

His last thought before he drifted off to unconsciousness was of her face.


	4. Chapter 4

**_White Acropolis base, night_**

"Transmission from HQ."

Shadow crouched half-hidden among the trees, watching the base and trying to ignore the freezing, bitter cold of the snowy landscape around him. A faint alarm was audible from where he stood, and he could see the slow brightening and dimming of a roving searchlight somewhere within the base's walls.

"Agent Shadow, respond."

He slid a finger beneath the cuff of his glove and pressed a button on his communicator, bringing his wrist to his mouth. "This is Agent Shadow."

"Would it kill you to answer the _first_ time we call once in a while?"

"Just give me the report."

The voice on the other end of the line let out a frustrated sigh, and Shadow smirked quietly to himself. "We have some last minute information for you. About two hours ago, we received an SOS coming from the base, sent by standard equipment _inside_ the base."

"It wasn't coming from her communicator?"

"All external signals to and from the base are being jammed. The last direct communication we had with our agent was twenty-six hours ago. That's why we sent you."

Shadow never took his eyes off the lights above the base's walls. "I know the doctor's engineering style. This isn't really _his_ base, is it?"

"Just get her out of there." Shadow's mouth tightened, but he said nothing. "We expect an immediate rescue, Agent Shadow. If only so that you can keep insisting to the rest of us at HQ that she's _just your colleague."_

Shadow glared down at his communicator as it clicked, shutting off contact. He _knew_ the other was just doing this to piss him off, petty revenge for the delayed answer, and it irritated him that it was working.

What a good chance to blow off some of that steam, then. He stepped forward into full moonlight and kicked forward, the jets on his shoes activating to let him skate forward smoothly over the snow. Just outside the main gate into the base, a full battalion of Eggman's robots awaited him, all turning and cocking the guns and cannons at the end of their arms at the sight of him.

Shadow slid back just as they fired, keeping his balance, ducking backwards under the wave of bullets and pulsing with energy. He left a wave of destruction in his wake as one by one, every mech in the company overloaded, many bursting into flames instantly. The one directly in front of the door Shadow used as a stepping stool, leaping onto its head and letting the superheated air from the jets of his shoes do the dirty work for him as he pushed off into the air, landing easily on the other side of the huge metal door. Behind him, he felt a wave of heat wash over him, providing temporary relief from the biting cold, as the company exploded all at once, leaving a smoking wreck behind.

Just in front of him he saw the exact sight he had been expecting - open outdoor spaces built among the rocky slopes, filled with more mechs and active searchlight columns. He smiled to himself as the first few robots took notice of his dramatic entrance, and readied himself.

It was time to cause one hell of a distraction.

* * *

Rouge hid in the dark shadow of a rocky outcropping halfway down the base, shivering from the cold. In her left hand, she gripped her prize tightly, and despite her predicament she couldn't help smiling down at it. A gleaming silver scepter about the length of her arm, wings framing a red jewel set at the top, its stem a strange, pulsing purple.

Not quite her usual type of gem, but she'd take it nonetheless.

Alarms had been blaring all across the complex ever since she'd sent out the SOS from the doctor's own private computer, and she'd been forced to hide from pursuers. She was no coward, but Rouge knew that there was no way she could take out an entire base full of reinforced robots and security measures on her own. She'd barely gotten in undetected as it was. Her specialty was charm and clean theft - not power fighting.

So there she sat, wrapping her wings around her for what little warmth they could provide her, and waited, holding her breath every time a sentry robot crossed nearby her, pouch of tiny bombs at the ready in case one of them spotted her.

Eggman had tried to take those from her too, but everyone always underestimated her skills in one way or another.

Rouge's ear twitched as a new sound reached her, one she could hardly have been happier to hear. The sound of explosions and crunching metal, further out toward the north edge of the base. Looked like someone at GUN had gotten her message after all. She got to her feet, still clutching the scepter, and then winced, her free hand going to her side. Her injury had gotten stiff in the cold - she needed some solid rest, and soon. But right now, it was time to make her final getaway.

There were several active searchlight towers between her and the commotion, and while mechs were likely already converging on this sector of the base, she'd rather not bring any more attention this way. So she stuck to the edges of the walls, timing runs from cover to cover between sweeps of the lights and staying out of the sightlines of patrolling guard mechs, slipping a little here and there on the icy rock underfoot.

Rouge could see a solid mechanical gate just ahead; the commotion was coming from just beyond. She paused, an ear quirking as she caught a series of very familiar grunts and yells, and grinned to herself. _Of all the people GUN could've sent…._

Well, she might as well work on opening this gate, make things a little easier on him. Rouge did a quick sweep over the area to locate the switch to unlock it, and found the controls half-hidden by the edge of the surrounding metal wall enclosing the area. She gripped the switch, nearly as tall as she was, and tugged - then winced as it made her side throb with heat. Grimacing, she stepped back and gave it a hard upward kick, sending the lever clicking upwards into the _open_ position just as the entire gate illuminated with blinding light.

Rouge spun to see a spotlight shining directly on top of her - and beyond, all the guard robots in the area swiveled to face her.

 _Damn it._

A barrage of missiles and gunfire came her way, and she dodged - not to the side but _up,_ taking to wing and already reaching into her bomb pouch. The first bomb she flung hit several of the aerial mechs dead on, taking them out in a shower of sparks and dismembered metal parts, but already, more were converging on the area - including several of the giants, miniguns at the ready.

Rouge landed back on the packed snow, backing toward the gate, which was still sliding open. She reached into her bag for another bomb, but before she could toss it, a black and red streak flashed by her, straight into the center of the pack. She shielded her eyes, figuring she knew exactly what was about to happen; sure enough, a second later a wave of heat hit her hard as the explosions began, far bigger than her little bombs could have done individually.

She got back to work, picking off the few stragglers at the edge of the group with a few well-placed kicks, and landed again just in time to watch as Shadow ploughed into the midsection of one of the giant mechs, sending pieces of it flying off in all directions as if it were made of no more than children's building blocks.

Rouge put one hand on her hip, the other still gripping her scepter, as Shadow landed down on one knee, his back to her. She sauntered up and resisted the urge to comment on his dramatic stance as he straightened and turned to face her, breathing heavily.

"Well, well, Shadow," she said, grinning. "What a coincidence, running into you here."

He nodded as if he hadn't just take out an entire pack of Eggman's robots nearly single-handedly. "Agent Rouge."

"Oh come _on_ now, Shadow, there's no need to be so formal." She nudged him, and he seemed to relax a little. "Glad you came! I was beginning to think I'd be on my own from here on out."

He folded his arms and stared off back where he'd broken in from, and Rouge raised an eyebrow. "The president requested I be the one to rescue you from the base when we received the SOS," he said.

"And you had no hand in influencing his decision, I'm sure. Pure serendipity that he sent _you."_

Shadow glanced back at her, and she was pleased to see a ghost of a smile cross his face. "I may have mentioned my past experience with the doctor's handiwork within his earshot," he said. "But this isn't one of his ordinary bases, from what I can tell."

"Yep." Rouge pointed at the nearest searchlight, which seemed to have shattered in the chaos - it was old and the outside of the column was rusting over, but the faded stenciled letters on the outside were still visible. "This base used to belong to GUN, but from what I gather they all but abandoned it almost a decade ago. Just a few days ago we started getting reports of intruders in the base, and security footage told us it was our good friend the doctor."

Shadow folded his arms. "So they sent _you_ to fight him off? You're not exactly heavy artillery."

Rouge huffed. "I wasn't _supposed_ to take the base back, I was just supposed to do some recon, see what he was doing - and retrieve a little prize forgotten in the vaults beneath the base." She waved the scepter around a little. "Weren't you wondering what _this_ is?"

"I was more interested in getting you out of here per my orders." He gestured back the way he'd come, his path littered with mech parts and scuffed-up snow, and Rouge couldn't help letting out a small breath of laughter. _Not very subtle, is he?_ "We can talk once we're back at GUN Headquarters."

Rouge stepped forward and grabbed Shadow's wrist just as he started to walk away. He stopped and stared at her. "Wait, wait. Chaos Control?"

"Not without an emerald."

"Short-range teleportation?"

"Only works on myself."

"Then we go _this_ way." She jerked a thumb the opposite way. "I've been in here for over twenty-four hours by now, I'm tired, and I'd rather not have to walk down an entire mountain to get out of here right now."

"That looks like further _in,_ not out."

"It's the fastest way out, trust me."

Rouge began to walk, beckoning Shadow to follow, and he did, though somewhat reluctantly. "You're forgetting I was better prepared for this mission than you were," she said. "Sounds like they didn't even tell you it was one of our old bases. I got a good look at the schematics of this base before I came out here, and there's a handy little surprise further in."

Shadow picked up his pace, and Rouge realized that more guard mechs had arrived just up ahead, presumably to investigate why their friends had gone offline.

"You handle the navigation," he said, clenching his hands into fists as he walked toward the group. "Just let me handle the fighting."

"That's what I like to hear," she called after him, smirking to herself and holding her side, which had begin to ache again.

They made their way deeper into the base, Rouge leading, Shadow handling the bulk of the robots in their path. She would have preferred to sneak, but Shadow had never been particularly good at stealth - the torn-up battlefields of mech parts he left in their wake were clear proof of that. And given that he was fresh and ready for action in contrast to her exhaustion, she was content to let him do what he did best.

Rouge stopped as she encountered what looked like a small open-air garage set into the side of the mountain rock. Only two robots were inside, and she lobbed a bomb at them before Shadow could make it past her, watching with satisfaction as their joints ripped apart at the seams from the blast.

"Since when did you start using bombs?" Shadow said, stepping further into the garage from behind her.

"Since Omega convinced me that blowing things up is fun." She tossed a bomb up and caught it. "I had them specially made to help me combat Eggman's robots. Plus, they come in my color!"

She held it out to let Shadow see the small pink heart embossed on the bomb's surface. He only shook his head and hit the switch on the opposite wall, letting the door set into it slide into the ceiling and open the way forward.

"It's just up ahead," Rouge said as they stepped out to the edge of a huge, open circular space enclosed by high metal walls. Several high lights shone from atop the walls into the space, illuminating it brightly like a football stadium. She could see that the sky had grown slightly lighter as they'd ventured through the base, no longer black but a sort of thick, dark gray. "This place used to be the main aircraft landing zone for the base. We just need to get to the other side - there's a way out there."

Shadow folded his arms again. "I smell a trap."

"Oh, definitely." She nudged him with her hip, and he glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "And I'm counting on you to trip it and provide me with a little diversion while I sneak around the back and ready our escape route. Think you can do that for me, handsome?"

He closed his eyes and nodded, then strode forward into the light. Rouge smiled as she watched him go, ready to slip around to the other side once all eyes were on her friend.

Of all the people GUN could have sent, she was glad it was him.

* * *

Shadow stood alone in the exact center of the arena (he could only think of it as such) and waited for the trap to spring.

Something about this whole mission felt odd to him. The doctor had a penchant for personally contacting those who assaulted his bases, in the _middle_ of said assault, yet he'd heard not a word out of any loudspeaker, seen not one floating monitor with the doctor's face on it coming his way. Perhaps Rouge would have an explanation once they'd escaped, but something felt wrong - there was more to this than perhaps even his well-informed partner knew. The doctor didn't just leave his bases unattended - and particularly not a stolen military base.

Shadow's eyes were drawn to movement as a cluster of mechs flitted in over the high surrounding walls, tiny mechanical wings on their backs providing them enough lift to fly over and land with thuds on the ground surrounding him. If this was the trap, it was a disappointing one. Shadow took care of them one by one, shredding their chassis with his spines, impaling them on Chaos spears, or simply kicking them into submission, drawing out the fight as long as he could until once again he stood amidst a pile of mech parts.

He could hear alarms wailing quite close by - the entire crew of the base must know they were here by now, and were converging on them for one last capture attempt. More robots entered the area, and Shadow disposed of them as well, more and more arriving as he fought until Shadow almost felt as if he were standing at the end of one of the doctor's robot assembly lines.

As he sent a spear lancing through the chest of another mech, a sudden, deafening mechanical roar made him spin. Gripping the top of the rock face that the garage they had emerged from was built into was a large, lanky figure - clearly modeled in a basic canine shape, but robotic, with a heavily armored plate covering its head and a strange red antenna poking out of its mechanical skull. It let out another buzzing screech and leapt from its perch to land at the edge of the arena on all fours, its eyes fixed on him.

 _Ah, the doctor's guard dog._

Shadow was just beginning to feel pleased that a real threat had decided to face him after all, when his wrist comm began to beep again. He glanced down at it and sighed. It seemed Rouge had finished whatever she'd been preparing on the other side of the landing area - it was time to leave, not fight.

He couldn't just cut and run without leaving the doctor one last mess to clean up, though.

So he bared his teeth at the dog and yelled, "Come on!" It snarled at him in turn and rushed him, and he turned and skated for the wall just fast enough to stay one step ahead of it. Its heavy footsteps thudded behind him, and after a few seconds he leaped up and flipped backwards, grabbing hold of the antenna on its head.

It skidded, then bucked, trying to throw him off, but the pressure of his grip on its antenna seemed to confuse it. Shadow regained his feet on its head, then yanked forward, and as he'd hoped, the dog charged once again - and just before it hit the wall he let go and pushed off backwards, generating enough opposite momentum to let him land safely as the dog crashed headlong into the wall, denting the armor on its head deeply and leaving it seemingly dazed.

Shadow stood and smirked back at it - then someone grabbed his wrist and yanked him back.

"This is no time to be playing with Eggman's pet, Shadow!" Rouge said, dragging him along behind her through a small doorway in the wall that he hadn't noticed before.

"I wasn't _playing,"_ he protested as they ran along a short hallway, but she paid him no mind, leading the way into a small room filled with blinking lights and a complicated-looking console against the opposite wall.

"Stand there," Rouge said, pointing him toward a large glowing circle on the floor. She tapped away at the console as Shadow did as he was told, still a little ruffled, then stepped onto the circle beside him a moment later.

Bright light began to arc from floor to ceiling, the outline of the circle they stood inside becoming a line of pure fire. Shadow closed his eyes, felt a strange sensation as though he were dissolving….

A moment later, he felt the ground underneath his feet again, felt that the air had become distinctly warmer - almost too warm, after the freezing cold of the mountain base. Shadow blinked his eyes open to see that he and Rouge seemed to have landed in a different, but similarly-designed, room. This one's console had a display above it, currently showing some kind of map.

"Ahh," Rouge said beside him, stretching. "I'd almost forgot what it felt like to be warm." She took a few steps forward and collapsed into a cushioned desk chair in front of the console, sinking into it and letting her eyes drift closed.

"A teleporter," Shadow muttered thoughtfully, taking a few aimless steps after her. "Where did it take us?"

"The only pre-loaded destination in its databanks," Rouge said, gesturing vaguely at the map on the screen with her eyes still shut. "This little lab in Soleanna's New City. Though why a GUN base's teleporter would lead to an independent lab in the middle of Soleanna is beyond me." She yawned. "Wish I hadn't gotten held up in that damn base. The parade was tonight, I was hoping to see it…."

"Wanted to take advantage of the distraction to pick up a few new treasures, more like."

She peeped an eye open at him. "You know me too well, handsome."

"I know you well enough to know that you're usually not the type to need a rescue. What exactly happened in there?"

Rouge sighed and sat up. "Eggman was ready for me, that's what. I've never seen him better prepared for intruders into one of his bases."

Shadow's brow furrowed. So he'd been right - there was more going on here than they knew.

"His robot's caught me when a searchlight passed over me. One of them gave me a nasty bruise too." She winced slightly, a hand going to her side, and Shadow frowned as she continued to speak. "They tossed me into one of the prison cells they've got deep in these GUN bases and just left me there. I was expecting a personal audience with Eggman, but apparently he's got better things to do than talk to beautiful women trying to rob him blind."

Shadow snorted.

"Those robots of his don't do a very good job checking for personal items, though." She winked at him. "I left a little surprise in there for him when I broke out. Next time he engages one of those electronic locks on the cell doors, it won't function properly. Give his next victim a better chance than they'd have otherwise."

Rouge leaned back in her seat again. "Then I just retrieved this beauty here -" she waggled her scepter at him - "and sent the SOS so I could get out in one piece."

"How badly were you injured?"

"It's just a bruise, Shadow."

"You weren't fighting at peak efficiency back there. Don't think I didn't notice."

"I was tired!"

"Let me see."

She glared at him, and he glared back, resolute, until she sighed in resignation and set the scepter down in her lap, reaching for the zipper at the side of her outfit. She peeled the fabric back just enough for him to see the large purple splotch on her side, and he studied it carefully.

"You're no doctor yourself, you know," she grumbled at him.

"Maybe not, but I did grow up in a science lab." He straightened back up and fished around in the small pack he'd brought with him, bringing out a medicinal bandage. "It doesn't look too bad. GUN thought you might be injured, so they gave me a few basic medical supplies to take with me."

"Huh. Handy." She took the bandage and began to peel back the wrapper. "And stop worrying, I should be back to normal after a rest."

Shadow's attention drifted away as Rouge stuck the bandage on her bruise, and his gaze landed on the map again. It showed what mostly looked like coastline, with a few inland settlements marked, but the biggest two were located right along the coast.

Rouge zipped her outfit back up and noticed him studying the map. "Soleanna's quite a nice little country," she said. "People call Castle Town the 'City of Water,' because of all the canals running through it. It's more of a landmark than New City, their one big metropolis. Primary industries are tourism and crafting precision machinery."

Shadow glanced to his left, noticing something he hadn't seen before - a framed portrait of a human girl in her teens, with a pale complexion and auburn hair. Her mouth was smiling, but her eyes were not.

"They have a constitutional monarchy, and…." Rouge followed his gaze. "And their current sovereign is Princess Elise III. That's her. Pretty young for a human ruler, too. Normally they don't like to let 'em start until they're at least eighteen, but she's a year younger.'

"Hmm."

"Anyway, Shadow," Rouge said, drawing his attention back to her. "If you don't mind, I really need a few hours of rest, but after that I have a little favor to ask of you. I could use an escort to the GUN rendezvous point where I'm supposed to drop this beauty off." She ran a finger along the jeweled scepter in her lap.

"What is it, exactly?"

"I know I led you on back in the base, but the truth is, I have no idea. I just know it's apparently the one thing of value GUN left behind when they abandoned that base, and they didn't want it falling into the hands of an evil genius like Eggman." The purple glow along the handle reflected into her sea-green eyes. "Sure is pretty, though…."

Shadow couldn't agree, though he said nothing. Something about the object made his spines tingle with uneasiness.

"So where's the rendezvous point?"

Rouge pointed to another spot on the map, what looked like a castle a few miles away from the Castle Town marker. "It's in the ancient castle of Soleanna, in what they call Kingdom Valley. Normally only members of the royal family are allowed access, but for some reason the government has agreed to give GU limited access for this exchange only."

Shadow frowned. "That's definitely more than a pretty jewel, then."

"Oh, certainly. Maybe we'll find out more once we get there." Rouge slouched back into her seat. "But first, I'm sleeping. I haven't had any in over a day. GUN's waited twenty-seven hours for me, they can wait a few more."

Shadow gave a small huff of laughter. "You rest. I'll send my report that we got out safely."

He needed far less sleep than the average Mobian, and he'd rested up before he'd been called out to Soleanna, so Shadow merely settled down into another nearby spinning chair and began typing up his report. All the while, he couldn't help his eyes flicking back to the scepter every now and then.

There were a lot of unanswered questions here, and he was determined to get them answered.


	5. Chapter 5

**_Castle Town, morning_**

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles were up just an hour after sunrise the next morning, making their way through Castle Town on a mission. The areas of the city along the parade route had been roped off, its citizens temporarily evacuated to areas deemed safe zones, mostly along the coast and near the royal castle, which sat on its own small island just offshore. The areas of the city they were confined to were crowded full of fearful citizens. Despite his attempted heroics last night, most people seemed to take little notice of Sonic - he supposed most of the citizens had fled before he arrived - and instead, he heard a lot of worried, whispered gossip among them.

"Solaris' flame extinguished at the Festival of the Sun itself - it's a bad omen, I tell you."

"Forget those old superstitions - our ruling princess was captured on our most important holiday!"

"Why would someone attack Soleanna? We've always been peaceful - I don't understand…."

"How could this happen?"

"What will we _do?"_

Sonic stared at the sky, at the place he'd last seen Eggman's new battleship before it had disappeared last night, and clenched his fists. He couldn't deny that the terrorizing of this city's people made him hot with anger. He felt for the Chaos Emerald the princess had thrown to him just before she was taken, still stashed away on his person, and hoped she wasn't too scared, wherever she was.

"I still don't understand why Eggman would attack a festival full of people _just_ to capture one princess," Knuckles said as they walked. "I mean, it's not like he's above taking hostages, but he didn't make any demands of the populace - just grabbed her and ran."

Sonic shrugged. "Well, he does have a flair for the dramatic."

"Soleanna is a weapons-free zone," Tails said, twirling his twin tails to keep up with his taller friends. "I read up on it before we came - they don't allow any firearms in the cities, and their royal guard is mostly trained in de-escalation, not combat - "

"You're telling me they have no solid way to defend themselves?" Knuckles said.

"It's not like Angel Island is covered in defensive cannons, Knuckles - "

Knuckles huffed. "Angel Island has a population of one - _me_ \- this place is packed with humans. You'd think they'd have some sort of countermeasure against something like this - "

"Well, that's why we're here, isn't it?" Sonic said, winking at the nearest guard, standing at attention next to the blocked-off street beyond and indeed seeming very tense at the current situation. "Eggman stirs up some trouble, we save the day, take a few months' vacation before he tries again, s'like clockwork. I just hope Amy's okay in this mess…."

Tails looked up at him. "You think Amy came here too?"

"Of course she did! _I'm_ here, you know how she is. Plus, I invited her."

Knuckles raised an eyebrow. "You didn't tell us that."

"She's my friend! And she follows me wherever I go anyway, I figured I might as well make the invitation official. At least I'd be _prepared_ to be tackle-hugged from behind this time. I thought we'd see her at the parade last night, but…."

"She has highly accurate you-radar," Tails said. "She'll show up any time now, knowing her."

"If she's not already rushing into trouble with that hammer of hers," Knuckles muttered.

Sonic's attention drifted away from the conversation and instead found a small commotion just ahead, next to the railing over the ocean waters. He jogged up to have a look, the others hurrying behind him.

"They were everywhere!" a balding man was panting to a small crowd, seemingly near hysterics. "They just dropped down all around me - I barely got away!"

"Hey - what happened?" Sonic said as he approached, and the man looked down at him, slightly wild-eyed.

"It was those robots - like the ones that attacked the festival! I was walking along the coast to try to clear my head when dozens of them started arriving, aiming those guns of theirs all around like they were on patrol. I thought I was going to get shot, it's a miracle they didn't spot me!"

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles all glanced at each other. _Sounds promising._

"And that battleship - the one from the festival - they were coming from that! It was flying overhead."

Knuckles punched a fist into his palm. "Sounds like a job for us, huh?"

Tails leapt into the air. "Yeah!"

"Actually…." Sonic cleared his throat. "Knuckles, buddy, you should probably stay behind."

Knuckles' face fell. "What? Why?"

"Look at everyone around here. Eggman has 'em running scared. They need someone to keep 'em safe - you said it yourself, these royal guards've got nothing on Eggman's forces." Sonic gave him a quick smile. "Besides, who better to protect people than a guy who's spent his entire life as a master guardian?"

Knuckles shook his head, but let out a defeated sigh. "Fine. Just make sure you beat up a few robots for me."

"Will do!"

Sonic took off down the street with Tails, leaving Knuckles back with the crowds.

"C'mon, buddy," he said as they reached the gate out of the city and into the wilder parts of Soleanna. "You ready to help me rescue a princess?"

Tails grinned, taking to the air. "Definitely!"

* * *

 ** _New City, that morning_**

Shadow let Rouge rest for several hours, sitting quietly nearby as she slumped in her chair and studying the map of Soleanna. When she awoke, she looked much more refreshed, and gave him a small smile, her eyes still half closed. "You sleep at all, handsome?"

"I didn't need to." He stood, and so did she, stashing her scepter away in her half-empty bomb satchel. "We should head to the rendezvous point before GUN becomes concerned."

Rouge stretched and headed for the door. "After this, I shouldn't have any more immediate assignments. Wouldn't mind going sightseeing, y'know…."

A short tunnel led them straight into what looked like a back alley of a big city, which connected to a main road just ahead. Shadow knew instantly upon emerging onto the thoroughfare that something was wrong. An untrained eye might not have noticed anything amiss, but the people walking the streets looked tense, walking more quickly than normal, many speaking rapidly into cellphones or glancing at the sky in concern.

"Looks like this lab led us straight into the New City," Rouge said as she stared around, ears swiveling in all directions as they tended to do in crowded and noisy locales. "And looks like New City's having a little bit of trouble."

"Mm."

"You think they heard about our little escapade at the base up the mountain?"

Shadow's gaze drifted to the side, and as he spotted something his brow furrowed. "There may be more to it than that."

Rouge followed his gaze, and stared along with him. Standing on the corner of an intersection just ahead was a GUN soldier in full uniform, though sans weapon. He was scanning the streets, looking concerned and speaking into a communicator of his own.

"Well, let's ask," Rouge said, leading the way over to him with Shadow following in her wake.

The soldier looked down as they approached and started a little in surprise. "Oh! Agents Shadow, and… uh…."

"Rouge, sweetie," she said, winking at him. "Don't worry, most people don't know the name."

"Right. I was told to expect the both of you, actually."

"Oh, really? Hope it's not just for an escort."

"No ma'am, just got informed on the way here last night that there were some agents already in the area on a mission of their own. Not supposed to question it."

"We have questions, actually," Shadow said.

"Why I'm here? Why everyone's so tense?" The soldier pointed southward. "Just last night, Dr. Ivo Robotnik launched a bold attack on the locals' annual Festival of the Sun with a brand-new battleship and kidnapped their ruling princess."

Shadow and Rouge exchanged a glance. "Guess that's why he didn't show up during our escape last night," Rouge muttered.

"Or when you were captured."

The soldier continued above them. "We've been getting reports all morning that the doctor has started stationing his battle mechs at various choke points in the wilds around the city, and the local government has already closed off the trains running from here to Castle Town."

"Well, we need that train," Rouge said. "Soleanna's under the special protection of GUN. Legally we have the freedom to move about the nation's settlements as we please, restrictions or no."

"Special access has nothing to do with it," the soldier said, shaking his head. "The situation is unprecedented; from what I hear there's never been a real attack on Soleanna before, let alone one of this scale. The entire train system is shut down. The guards should let you out of the city, but if you're trying to get to Castle Town you're gonna have to take the long way around. Uh, through the forest."

Rouge sighed irritably. "Wonderful," she muttered. She added a quick "Thanks, sweetie" to the soldier as she and Shadow walked away down the street together.

"Kingdom Valley is a lot closer to Castle Town than it is to here," Rouge said. "It's gonna take us hours to get there on foot."

"We'll get there," Shadow said. He was much more concerned with wondering what Eggman was planning. Taking over a GUN base was one thing, but attacking a festival just to facilitate a kidnapping? There hadn't been any reports of a new battleship at the base he and Rouge had raided. What could he possibly be up to?

"There should be an exit from the city out into the forest somewhere near here," Rouge said, bringing him back to himself. She'd projected a tiny version of the Soleanna map up from her wrist comm and was studying it. "From there we can make our way out to the ancient castle. I just hope our rendezvous is there, and not held up by what's going on in the cities."

"More GUN units will arrive soon, most likely," Shadow said as they turned a corner, heading for the edge of the city. "They'll be able to protect the citizens."

Rouge gave him a sidelong glance, her expression suddenly mischievous. "Hey, if Eggman's here, I bet I know someone _else_ who will be too…."

Shadow refused to meet her gaze.

* * *

 ** _The beach, about a mile away from Castle Town, that morning_**

The scared man had been right - the beach near Castle Town was crawling with robots. Models Sonic had never fought before, far less garish than Sonic had ever seen Eggman's robots painted before. Instead of the usual bright reds and yellows, these new models looked sharper, deadlier. Whatever Eggman had planned this time around, he clearly meant business.

The robots were tougher, too - Sonic found he often had to plough into them multiple times before they fell to pieces, especially the bigger ones. They had clearly been not only patrolling the area, but also advancing toward the city gates - and Sonic wasn't about to let them get that far. Eggman had taken control of cities before, kept them living in fear under his thumb, but Sonic was determined to keep Soleanna's citizens from experiencing any more terror than they already had since the festival.

The trails of advancing robot squads had led Sonic and Tails to Some sort of public beach hangout, with food stands scattered here and there (closed, of course) and skeletal metal structures on which to hang blankets for shelter from the sun. Sonic leapt into the air, grabbing hold of one of the structures, and flipped around it, letting go at the highest point of his swing to fling himself in an arc onto a raised grassy mound atop a cliff behind the hangout. As he'd expected, there were even more mechs up here, several of the winged, bipedal type that had attacked the festival the night before accompanied by one of the big, hulking ones. Sonic rolled to the right to dodge as its arms lit up with hot lasers, scorching the grass in two straight lines where he'd been a moment before. Then he set about taking out the smaller ones one by one, smashing into each in turn and leaving them sparking on the ground in a semi-circle.

 _Hope Soleanna has a beach cleanup detail to deal with this mess…._

Sonic rolled to avoid a spray of gunfire from the big one, and stared up at it, gauging its weaknesses. He expected another laser blast, but instead, it balled its fists up - literally, Sonic realized, as its fingers quickly interlocked with each other to create what looked like solid balls of metallic machinery at the end of either arm. Then it held out its arms straight toward him.

He jumped just as it launched the first ball at him, rolling heavily but harmlessly beneath him, but his downward arc carried him straight into the path of the second one. It hit him painfully in the chest, and as it bounced off of him he collapsed back, gasping for breath and coughing. He had a feeling he would have a large bruise on his midsection in a few hours.

Sonic coughed again and opened his eyes, sitting up just in time to see Tails swooping overhead, lobbing one of his Chaos bombs at the mech. To his surprise, the bomb exploded with more force than he'd ever seen it produce before, sending false rings scattering in every direction. The bomb had struck the core of the mech's head, and it collapsed with a heavy thud onto the grass beneath it.

"Sonic! Are you okay?" Tails called, landing next to him with a worried look on his face. Sonic brushed away his concern and stood, staring at Tails' handiwork.

"Nice job, dude," he said, and Tails looked relieved. "Did you tune up those bombs since the last time or something? They never worked so well before."

Tails shook his head and furrowed his brow. "I didn't change anything," he said, frowning at the mech. "But…."

Sonic motioned him along and began to jog along the cliffside drop. "C'mon, we need to keep moving - but don't stop, I wanna hear this theory."

"Well," Tails said, whirling his tails behind him in an effort to keep up, "I've heard some interesting things about Soleanna before we came here. They call it the 'land of magic and science,' but there's a lot of theories that say everything we used to think of as magic is just the effects of concentrated Chaos energy. Floating islands, mystical beings, ghosts - "

"What're you getting at here?" Up ahead, the cliff sloped back down into the sandy shore, and Sonic kept his balance as he ran nearly sideways, picking up speed on the slope.

Tails panted behind him and took to the air as they headed onto a wooden bridge connecting two spits of land. "Well, it's likely - at least, I think - that Soleanna, for whatever reason, is a better conduit of Chaos energy than most other - "

Whatever he was going to say was drowned out as the wood directly in front of Sonic splintered and exploded.

He didn't have time to do anything other than jump. He managed to push himself off one airborne piece of wood, but he had no purchase, and he went flailing wildly above the water, grasping desperately for anything that could save him from falling in - and his fingers caught on something flat and slippery.

It took him a moment to realize that it was the dorsal fin of a killer whale, and he saw with a jolt of fear that it was making its way to open ocean, heading for a gate leading out of the enclosed beach area.

 _"Tails!"_ Sonic yelled above the sounds of splashing. "Hit the gate switch so it can't get out! _Hurry!"_

He clung to the whale for dear life, unable to see if Tails had even avoided the splintered wood from the bridge's destruction, desperately scrabbling for better purchase as the whale bucked, trying to throw him off. The gate was getting closer, and it was still open….

 _What is it with whales always destroying bridges WHILE I'M ON THEM?_

Sonic snorted as salt water splashed in his face and went up his nose, squeezing his eyes shut. Then he heard a familiar whirring sound above his head - and a second later, the sound of metal screeching on metal as the gate began to close.

He opened his eyes and looked up to see Tails standing atop the gate's upper frame, both hands wrapped around the switch he had just thrown. The gate slammed downward into the water, and just as the whale reached it Sonic used its bucking momentum to fling himself upward, letting go and landing on his feet (slipping a bit) next to Tails.

Sonic coughed and grinned at his friend, who was staring up at him, wide-eyed. "Thanks, buddy," he said.

Tails just shook his head. "I'll never understand how you get into the kinds of trouble you do." He reached out and grabbed Sonic's hands with his own, and Sonic gripped back automatically as Tails lifted them both into the air, flying them over the expanse of water - and the very annoyed whale - back to the beach.

"Maybe next time, we take our vacation to someplace that _isn't_ surrounded by water," Sonic said as his feet touched down onto the sand and Tails landed beside him. "Maybe a big city, or a…."

He trailed off as a distant noise met his ears. Sonic looked around, searching for the source of the sound - left, right? No, up.

It sounded like a plane overhead - except it wasn't any ordinary plane….

Tails gasped next to him as directly above them, a familiar dark red battleship blasted past, heading in a southwesterly direction along the shore, its engines spurting out blue fire as it flew at an incredible speed across the sky. A second later a loud boom reached his ears, and Sonic saw trails of wispy white clinging to the ship's wings as it rapidly grew smaller overhead.

He dug his heels into the ground.

"Sonic, wait!" Tails yelled, but Sonic had already taken off running along the shore, further out into the unsettled areas, where rock formations rose from the waters and wild islands stretched out into the ocean.

The ship had broken the sound barrier - which meant it was time for Sonic to do the same.

Sand kicked up behind him as he sped up, pushing his limits, straining until he felt things suddenly grow smooth around him, the landscape becoming a grassy, watery blur. He'd only managed to exceed the speed of sound outside of a super state recently, and he knew he didn't have a lot of control once he broke the barrier. He'd meant to practice more in the coming months, after the trip to Soleanna, but it looked like he would be getting some hands-on experience here - he would have to rely on his wits to avoid a painful collision with any obstacles in his path.

Just ahead, a pier extended over the water, and Sonic raced along it, pounding after the battleship, knowing that the princess must be inside. When he ran out of pier, he leapt with all his strength, flying over the clear waters below. The battleship roared past several rocky outcroppings, and Sonic flipped himself in time to plant his feet for a brief second against one of them. Then he pushed off again, climbing higher and higher with each leap, growing closer to the ship - closer….

He leapt one last time, hands outstretched to grab hold of the ship's exterior, but at the last second its engines flared, and the shockwave from the heat pushed him back just enough to keep him from getting a grip.

Sonic coughed, some of his momentum lost in the leaps and bounds, but he managed to control his descent enough to land on his feet on the beach below. The battleship had already gained some ground on him, so Sonic pushed his speed up once again, keeping pace. The panel in the underside of the ship slid open and several robots dropped out, falling to the ground in front of him, but Sonic simply leapt, doing a quick flip over their heads as they tried to track his blazing form with their guns, and kept running.

He could make it - if he just pushed harder, he could make this….

Up ahead, the battleship was flying above another cliff, but Sonic spied a cave entrance in its side, directly in his running path. Praying that it ran through the length of the cliff, Sonic sped at top speed into it, swerving wildly to avoid smashing into any rocky walls. His foot hit something - a loose rock, maybe - and he stumbled, but by some miracle he regained his balance, perhaps through sheer momentum - and directly ahead, he could see light.

Pushing harder than he ever had in his life, Sonic burst out the other end, a shockwave of displaced air blowing sand away from him in an arc as he emerged out onto the beach once again. Everything narrowed to only what was in front of him, and thoughts became words, syllables. _Dodge left. Jump. Skid. Keep running, keep running._

He registered at the last moment what lay ahead - a stretch of open water separating him from the beach on the other side - and had a split second to make his choice.

 _Jump or stop?_

 _Jump._

He leapt, putting all his effort into jumping not up, but _forward._ Sonic nearly flew as his shoes skimmed mere feet from the water's surface, arms spread to control his leap as best he could. For a second, he almost thought he wouldn't make it - but his shoes splashed down into the shallows right at the edge of the far beach and he was off again. He slipped a little, losing some speed, but made sure to keep running after the battleship - only to realize that it was nowhere in sight.

 _What?_

Sonic skidded to a halt so hard he nearly toppled backwards, and then began to spin wildly, scanning the skies all around him - but there was nothing. The skies were clear everywhere he looked, and all he could hear was the sound of the waves washing up onto the shore and the cries of gulls nearby.

He shook his head in disbelief and began to pace restlessly. When had he lost it? In the cave? Had he just not been paying close enough attention, too lost in the thrill of the chase to realize his quarry was no longer participating? This was now the second time in less than twenty-four hours that Eggman's ship had managed to vanish from the sky when he wasn't looking - but how could he be doing it? What was his trick? Teleportation? Reality warping? Sonic didn't know. And he was getting more than a little concerned.

Sonic paced back and forth for the next few minutes, feeling defeated, until he once again heard the distinct sound of Tails descending from above. He turned toward him immediately. "It's gone! I don't know where it keeps disappearing to! Did you see where it went?"

Tails' slumped shoulders were all the answer Sonic needed, and he sighed. His eyes fixed on a feather lying at his feet - obviously from a seagull, fallen out midflight, but all Sonic could think of was the princess - soft, unused to such danger, shaking and terrified at the center of Eggman's robots at the festival, white feathers in her hair.

He bent and picked it up, turning it over in his fingers.

"Sonic, we should regroup." Tails stepped in front of him, drawing his attention back up. "Let's head back to the city and figure out what to do from there - maybe Knuckles will have an idea."

Sonic nodded slowly. "Yeah, we better head back. C'mon - let's get going."

He and Tails began the run back to Castle Town - but Sonic never let go of his feather.

* * *

 ** _Castle Town, shortly thereafter_**

"So, Silver," Amy said. She and Silver had awoken just a little bit earlier, the sun already shining bright over the city. Silver still found himself entranced by all the sights and smells - so beautiful, so clean. And even despite the attack on the festival the night before, it felt so safe. No lakes of fire to fear, no monsters swooping in from above….

"Hey, you in there? Earth to Silver! Lost in la-la land?"

Silver shook his head and glanced over and Amy, who was staring at him with those big green eyes of hers. "Uh, sorry."

"Were you looking at the water? I know I love it." Amy did a little twirl as she walked, her dress fanning out around her. "Beaches always make me so happy."

"It _is_ beautiful," Silver admitted, watching the light play off the waves far off toward the horizon.

"Anyway, I just wanted to know what your friend is like!" Amy skipped next to him. "You know, the one you're looking for."

Silver felt a chill rush through him. He couldn't possibly tell her he was a vigilante from the future, hunting down a monster who, in two days' time, planned to unleashed hellfire on the world. She would think he was crazy, or else hate him and try to stop him. So he cleared his throat and thought fast - or tried to, anyway.

"Uh… oh. He's just a… a friend of mine. We were planning to meet up somewhere around here, but um, I guess we got thrown off by what happened at the festival last night. You know, with the crowds, and the missiles, and…."

Amy narrowed her eyes at him, and he swallowed.

 _That couldn't have sounded more fake if I tried._

"And what does this guy _look_ like?"

Silver coughed again.

"Oh, uh, you know… he's just another hedgehog, like us, you know, and, uh…."

Then he noticed the smirk spreading across her face.

"Uh-huh," she said, giving him a knowing, secretive look. "I see."

"Y-you do?"

"Of _course_ I do!" Amy grabbed his hand in her own as she had last night, eyes lighting up. "You came here with your 'friend' because you want to ask him on a _date!"_

Silver's eyes flew wide.

"Wh- ah, no, you're _completely_ getting the wrong - "

"Oh, you don't have to be embarrassed!" Amy giggled as Silver felt his face begin to heat up. "I know what it's like to have a crush on someone, believe me!" She gasped. "Oh, when we find him, I can be your wingwoman! You won't have to feel shy at all!"

"No, no, no - " Silver swallowed, slightly panicked - she was so talkative! - and said, "He's not even the only person I'm looking for, I also have another friend here, um, we all came here together. Her name is Blaze, she's a cat, she's my best friend and - "

"Oh, and you like her _too!"_

Silver's blush deepened. He hid his face in his free hand.

"Are you caught in the middle of a love triangle? Or are they already dating each other, and you want to be with _both_ of them? Oh, this is so _cute!"_

Silver sucked in a breath between his teeth, desperate to steer the topic away to something less likely to make his face burn, and said quickly, "Uh, what about you? You said you were looking for someone too? Tell me about them, I'm curious about them. I can't help you look if I don't know anything about them."

To his immense relief, Amy released his hand and began to walk again, spinning around and around as she talked. "Oh, you mean _Sonic!_ He's only the love of my life is all!"

 _Is this all she talks about?_

"Oh, he's so _handsome._ Always running off to save the day. I really look up to him, y'know. I want to be brave and strong like him, and then we can be together, once he finally agrees to go out with me…."

Silver's gaze was drawn by movement off to the side, at the edge of the city wall. He squinted, peering closer. A crowd seemed to be forming next to an exit gate.

"In fact, did you know that _he_ was the one who rushed in to save - "

"What's going on over there?" Silver said, interrupting her monologue. "Look - do you see those people over near the gate? They look scared."

"Huh?" Amy followed his gaze. "Maybe we should go check it out?"

Before he could respond, she took off at a fast walk toward the crowd, and he followed. As they got closer it became obvious that the group of humans did indeed seem to be panicking, all shouting and huddled together, several guards standing at the edges of the group trying to keep order. One man in particular caught Silver's eye - middle-aged, dressed in a clean, sharp suit, with a top hat and round glasses perched on his nose.

The man looked over and noticed Amy and Silver standing nearby, and his eyes widened. He pointed at the pair of them. "You! You two! You look capable!"

Silver blinked.

"You know how to fight? Please tell me you do."

"Fight?" Amy said. "Yeah, I can fight." Silver gaped as she pulled out a huge red and yellow hammer, nearly as big as she was, from seemingly nowhere.

"Oh, thank Solaris - " The man turned and pointed toward the tall gate in the center of the city wall. "We have reports of more of those robots that attacked the festival heading for the city, coming from the direction of the ruins in the desert! None of our guards are capable of handling such a force and we have no one else to - just, please, help us fight off the attack force. I'll give you a reward. Just keep the people safe!"

Amy hefted her hammer over her shoulder confidently. "We're not doing this for a reward, mister. Just let us through and we'll take care of it."

Silver blinked rapidly, taken aback by the request. "Wait - are we gonna - ?"

"Come on, Silver!" Amy grabbed his wrist and dragged him toward the gate, and he stumbled slightly. "We gotta do something to help these people!"

"Uh, yeah, okay. Robots, no problem."

He'd fought countless scores of Iblis' fire monsters in his own time - how hard could these things be?"

Two guards pulled open the twin doors of the gate as Amy and Silver approached, revealing a stretch of plain dirt road heading away from the city. Soft grass lined it on either side, along with a few lush trees - and the first few robots, already visible at the top of the hill ahead.

The man had been telling the truth - they looked to be the same ones that had attacked the festival before, the ones that the Iblis Trigger had defeated. White, bipedal, guns on their arms and strange metal wings on their back. Silver heard the gate clunk closed behind them, locking them out with the robots.

Amy's demeanor had totally changed; she'd gone from lovestruck teenager to bold warrior in the span of a few seconds. She stood with one foot forward, crouched slightly, hammer held back and at the ready. She shot Silver a quick wink as the robots drew closer. "Ready to kick some robot butt?"

"Yeah," Silver said, flexing his fingers at his sides and staring down the oncoming mechs. "Ready."

He scanned the area quickly for something to use as a weapon, and his eyes locked on a branch that had fallen from a nearby tree - thin, but sturdy looking. As the mech at the head of the group raised its cannon arm, Silver stretched his hand toward the branch, grabbed it with his mind, aimed, drew his arm back, and flung it like a javelin in one smooth motion. It hit its target dead center, piercing through the mech's chest and causing it to spark as its systems malfunctioned.

"Whoa!" Amy yelled from behind him, but he remained facing forward, watching the movements of the other robots. "I didn't know you had _mind_ powers!"

Silver couldn't help smiling. "Yeah! Come in handy, don't they?"

He gripped the robot he'd hit, which had begun to teeter, and it glowed cyan in his grasp. Then he threw it back, and it hit two more advancing behind it with enough force to knock their limbs clean off.

"All right!" Silver felt a breeze as Amy rushed past him, sprinting toward the others with her hammer at the ready. "Now it's _my_ turn!"

Silver froze in the middle of grabbing more robot parts, wary of catching her in friendly fire - but she hardly even seemed to need help. She rushed into the center of the remaining enemies and began pounding them to pieces with a level of raw strength that left him somewhat slackjawed.

He supposed he had judged her based on her existence in a time period before the hardships he'd endured all his life, but she held her own against the attackers almost effortlessly, bits of crushed and dented metal flying off in every direction as her hammer smashed into the robots again and again.

Silver shook himself back into action and used the debris he'd been holding to wipe out the last few robots, which were raising their cannons on Amy from behind, knocking them to the ground before they could line up a shot. Amy stood in the center of a pile of dismembered robot parts, breathing heavily, her dress slightly rumpled but otherwise looking wholly uninjured.

"Looks like the last of them!" she said brightly, walking back over to him. Noticing Silver still somewhat stunned expression, she heaved her hammer up onto her shoulder again and grinned. "I've been working out."

Silver refused to blush again in front of her, instead turning back toward the closed gate. "Uh, yeah. Guess we'd better go tell the others everything's okay out here." Then he frowned. "Where did they even come from, anyway? Why are robot's attacking this town?"

"Oh, they're Eggman's," Amy said with contempt, pounding her fist on the gate.

"Eggman? Isn't he…."

"Yeah, didja see him at the festival? He's the one who kidnapped the princess."

"Oh yeah. Red coat, big mustache, kinda… round?"

"Like an egg! Hence the nickname." Amy giggled. "Sonic gave it to him early on and I guess he eventually decided it wasn't worth arguing the point. His real name's _Robotnik,_ but he's been calling himself Eggman for years. Egg this, egg that. Luckily, Sonic's always there to - "

The gate cracked open, and the face of a guard peered out over their heads, looking confused and concerned. Then she looked down and noticed them standing there.

"Did you take care of them? Is it safe out there now?"

Amy nodded. "Yeah, everything's fine! No problem."

"Oh, thank goodness." The guard pushed the door open a little further to let the two of them slip back through. A crowd of curious faces greeted them, many of which switched to expressions of relief as the news swept through that the mechs had been stopped. A figure emerged from the crowd and stepped up to them - the man from before, in the top hat.

"I can't even begin to thank you both enough," he said, offering them both his hand. Amy shook it cheerfully, Silver hesitantly. "I apologize for not introducing myself earlier, but we had… well, a situation as you saw. A situation which the both of you have solved!" He smiled down at them. "My name is Lord Regis, and I'm the one in charge of maintaining order in Castle Town while our princess is… indisposed."

"I'm so sorry about that, mister," Amy said. "I'm sure you'll have her back out of Eggman's slimy clutches before ya know it."

"We can only hope, young miss, but thank you." He smiled down at her, and she beamed back.

"Now, as I said, I'd like to offer you a reward for helping us, on behalf of the people of Soleanna. Nothing formal, just a token of our appreciation."

Amy shook her head and opened her mouth, but Silver, realizing an opportunity lay open for them, spoke quickly. "Um, I have an idea. Can you give us a free pass to go in and out of the city whenever we want?"

Both Lord Regis and Amy looked taken aback. Lord Regis cleared his throat. "Of course, young sir, but _why?"_

"Well," Silver said, gesturing to himself and Amy, "my friend and I here are looking for some other friends, and we think they might be outside of the city." He saw Amy's eyes light up with understanding. "So it'd be easier if we could come and go as we wanted. You know, to search."

"Yeah!" Amy said.

"Well, I suppose you two have proven that you can handle yourselves…." Lord Regis nodded down at them. "Very well. I'll inform the city guards to let you leave and enter whenever you need to, as long as you promise to remain careful out there. This is a dangerous time for Soleanna."

"Yes, sir!" Amy smiled again, and Silver couldn't help grinning too, just a little. This was good progress. He'd find the Iblis Trigger yet.

And Blaze… wherever she was.

As Lord Regis walked away, flicking open what looked to Silver like some kind of portable communications device and holding it against his ear, Amy turned to Silver. "That was good thinking, Silver!" she said. "That guy said before that the robots were coming from the direction of the desert, so I'm thinking that's where we should go next!"

Silver blinked. "Wait, why?"

"Because I'll tell ya one thing I've learned over the past few years." Amy motioned to Silver to follow her back to the gate out of the city, which he did, grateful that this time he wasn't being dragged along behind her by his wrist. "Where there's an Eggman, you can always find a Sonic!"

* * *

 ** _Castle Town, just a few minutes later_**

Sonic and Tails had had a little more trouble gaining access back into the city than they'd expected. It didn't take them long to figure out why - reports had begun to come in from all across Soleanna of mechs amassing in the wilds, surrounding the cities, particularly Castle Town. Scouting? Preparing for another attack? Sonic didn't know - he only knew what the rumors flying around among the townsfolk told him - but he knew that whatever Eggman was planning, it couldn't be good.

"I wonder where Knuckles got off to?" Tails said as they headed through the streets. By now it looked like the guards had gotten the city more or less under control, the people still rattled but no longer in a panic, and cleanup efforts already underway at the site of Eggman's attack. The streets closest to the city walls, however, were fairly empty.

"If I know him, probably out fighting off some of those robots we heard about at the gates." A grin tugged at Sonic's lips. "He never misses a chance to…."

He trailed off as the sound of crying reached his ears, and glanced up, looking for the source.

"Sonic!" Tails pointed upward. "Look!"

A young human girl, probably even younger than Tails, was standing on top of a high roof just nearby, hugging her arms in close to her chest and staring at the ground below with fear in her eyes. Sonic glanced around - no one was here, no one had seen her. So he turned to Tails.

"Hey, buddy," he said. "Wanna go get her down from there? She looks like she could use some help."

Tails was already lifting off the ground as Sonic spoke. He reached the roof easily, and Sonic watched as he said something to the girl that caused her to wipe her eyes and nod. Tails offered his hands to her, which she took after a brief hesitation - she stiffened as Tails lifted off once more, but a few seconds later they had reached the ground, and Tails set her down gently next to Sonic.

"Hey," Sonic said, smiling at her. She continued to wipe at her eyes, sniffling. "You okay?"

She nodded.

"How'd you get up there?"

She sniffed again, her eyes red from crying. "I, I just… I climbed up onto the roof because I wanted to see over the city walls. I heard that Eggman was at the desert and I wanted to keep watch, so I could be brave like the royal guards… but then I didn't know how to get back down…."

"Francesca!"

Sonic turned at a new voice. A woman was running up from the direction of the coast, looking a mixture of panic and relief. She dropped down and hugged the girl, squeezing her tight. "There you are! Your stepdad and I were worried sick, we couldn't find you anywhere!"

"It's all right!" Sonic said, and the woman looked up at him, eyes widening. She seemed to recognize him. "She was just try'na keep a lookout for Eggman's goons, that's all."

"Yeah, I got her down from the roof," Tails chimed in. "No problem!"

"Thank you, thank you both," the woman said, standing back up. Francesca stayed close to her, and seemed calmer now that she'd been reunited with her mother. "Not fifteen minutes ago there was some kind of incident at one of the city gates with Eggman's robots, and that's when I realized Francesca had disappeared…."

"Are you Sonic the Hedgehog and Tails?" Francesca blurted out, her eyes very wide now. "The famous heroes from the United Federation?"

"I'm actually from Christmas Island, but yeah, that's the idea." Sonic winked at her, and her eyes grew even larger.

"I'm sorry," Francesca's mother said. "I think she's just excited to meet real heroes…."

"No sweat!" Sonic gave them a thumbs-up. "Actually, I'd say she helped us out a bit. Tails'n I gotta go, but it was nice meeting ya!"

As they walked away, leaving Francesca safe with her mother, Tails looked up at Sonic. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"That maybe we should check out what's in this desert and see if we can't fry an egg?"

"Bingo!"

Sonic laughed and shook his head as they walked, heading at a quick pace for the nearest city gate.

 _And maybe we'll find a lost princess there, too._


	6. Chapter 6

**_Ancient Soleannan ruins, desert, midday_**

"This looks like the place!"

Amy and Silver had trekked along the path from the city until it had turned from grass to dust and then disappeared completely. The desert ruins turned out to be only a few miles from the city, but even this short walk had introduced Silver to new sights - this time, in the form of endless hills of golden sand set against a backdrop of pure blue, almost seeming to glow with comfortable warmth from the sun above.

But the walk also gave him time to think about his goal. Here he was, halfway through day two of his mission. If he didn't stop the Iblis Trigger by sundown tomorrow, then he would fail - Iblis would be released, and he would have to live the rest of his life (however long it would last) with the fact that he _could_ have prevented it, but _didn't._ It was a harrowing thought, and one that nagged at the back of his mind as he and Amy crested a hill. She gasped and pointed.

"Look!" she said. Just up ahead was a large ruin, sandy-colored like the rest of the desert around it, the corners of the stone temples and buildings worn from years of wind and rough grains of sand. Silver had no idea what ruins like these might contain, ruins from the past - he'd never encountered a ruin destroyed by something other than flames before - but Amy seemed excited.

"This must be an ancient Soleannan temple," she said. "Just the kind of place Eggman would set up shop - and that means Sonic can't be far off."

"How do you know?"

She shielded her eyes from the sun above, staring out toward the ruin. "Call it my girlish intuition."

Doubt was beginning to eat away at Silver in earnest now, and as Amy continued to study the ruin from afar, his gaze turned downward. He had no reason to believe his quarry was out here - nor Blaze, for that matter - and yet here he was, following around behind a girl he hardly knew just because she'd been friendly to him. Time was running out and he was barely doing anything to rectify the situation.

"What am I doing?" he muttered to himself, shaking his head. After a moment he raised his gaze to find a pair of green eyes staring into his sheepishly.

"Sorry," Amy said. "As soon as I find Sonic, I promise I'll help you find your friends, Silver! And I don't go back on a promise."

 _But you don't understand how little time we have, how high the stakes are…._

Well, anything was better than continuing to stress about this. It was beginning to make him feel horribly queasy. So he looked for a distraction - and found it in his surroundings, in the landscapes that fascinated him so endlessly. He'd always imagined the most beautiful things in the ancient world would be forests, bustling cities full of people, rivers flowing merrily through green hills - but there was an elegance to this place, even devoid of greenery as it was. Shifting hills of fine, soft sand, heat that was calming rather than scorching… ruins that formed with time and age, not destruction….

"It's so beautiful," Silver said aloud.

Amy cocked her head to one side. "What, you mean this desert?" She spun around idly, staring up at the sky. "It's all right, I guess…."

"Well, I mean… the world." He stared upward with her, into the blue. "Everything's so great here. The sky is gorgeous, and everyone's so happy…."

When Silver looked back down he found Amy staring at him as though he'd said something really bizarre, and he flushed. _I suppose most people in this time don't go around constantly amazed at how beautiful it is._ They took it for granted.

He cleared his throat and shook his head. "Uh, we should get going. Didn't you say your friend was in there?"

"Oh - yeah!" Amy gave a little skip and took off running for the ruins, Silver jogging along behind her. It wasn't a far run, and soon they stood in front of a large square opening in the side of a sheer stone wall, the inside dimly lit and hard to see from here.

Silver shifted a little on his feet. It felt too easy and very odd that an entrance was already open and waiting for them. "Um, are you sure that Sonic would be hanging around in a place like this? Seems empty."

"Absolutely! He's always going off into old ruins, crazy jungles, far off dangerous places." She put a hand on her hip, staring into the darkness. "And besides, Eggman probably had more of his robots in here. If nothing else, we can do our part to take that creep down!"

And she skipped inside. Silver tripped slightly rushing to follow her in, cool air washing over him as they stepped out of the hot sun. All Silver could see, just a few paces in, was a dim orange-yellow light, which flickered almost… almost like flame.

"Are there… torches in here?" Amy said, her voice hushed.

Then Silver's ears twitched as the sound of stone grinding on stone rang out from behind him. He whirled - the opening they had just come through was closing, a door carved from a slab of rock sliding down. Immediately he thrust out with his psychokinesis, trying to grip the door and keep it from closing all the way. The door glowed cyan and seemed to strain a little, but to his shock, after a few seconds it kept sliding, ignoring his power completely.

Then the stone thudded down, trapping Silver and Amy in near complete darkness.

"Hang on, I got this," her voice came from next to him, and in what dim light was available he saw the shape of her hammer appear once again. She let out a high-pitched cry of effort as she slammed it into the door, and he heard several heavy thwacks of the hammer against stone, but when she drew back to examine her handiwork, not a single scratch marred the carved stone.

"What's _with_ this place?" she said, sounding frustrated. "Now we're trapped in here!"

Silver turned back to the interior of the ruin. There was definitely a dim flickering, exactly like that of fire, from further in. Whatever was going on here, he was reasonably sure someone had been here before them - and there was something else, too, a strange prickling at the base of his skull that he realized had been getting stronger ever since he and Amy had approached this ruin. There was some kind of weird energy here… maybe just not in the temple, but everywhere, even in the city.

"I think the only way out is further in," he said.

Amy's eyes reflected some of the light as she looked up at him. "You think so?" she said. "I guess Eggman probably has some more of his robots stored in here…."

"Come on," Silver said, gesturing and beginning to walk down the hall toward the light. "Let's see what we can find."

* * *

In another part of the ruin, silent and enclosed, Elise sat quietly against a dusty pillar in the only patch of sunlight available to her, hands folder in her lap, eyes staring down at the ancient stones beneath her. Dr. Eggman had locked her in here not very long ago, shutting a slab of stone over the only entrance to the room. Against one wall she could see a tunnel stretching off into darkness, barred by a metal grate that was significantly shinier and newer than the rest of the ruin around it, leading her to believe that the doctor had installed it himself to keep her from escaping. And it proved effective; the gaps between the bars were far too small for her to slip through, and the stone door was too heavy to life. She was stuck - no way out.

So with fear, anger, sadness coursing through her, threatening to spill over, Elise did the only thing she knew to do in such a situation: she fixed her gaze carefully on a spot on the ground, and built a wall to separate herself from all emotion. Feeling nothing. She felt like the stone beneath her, cold, solid, uncaring.

In the back of her mind, a voice echoed.

 _"You're a good girl, Elise. Remember, be brave. Don't cry, no matter what happens."_

The one lesson her father had drilled into her head since before she could remember, don't cry, don't cry. Strong queens don't cry. Whatever you do, don't let those tears fall.

 _Don't cry._

And so she sat, and sat, feeling nothing, thinking of nothing, hands folded, dress crumpled beneath her, and she might have remained that way forever had one wall of the room not suddenly collapsed inward.

Elise inhaled sharply, shocked out of her stupor, and found herself tensed and on her feet. Her eyes widened as she took in the scene - the wall to the left of the grate had become a pile of rubble, blocks of stone crumbled to the ground, and standing amidst the mess, a small smirk on his face, was none other than….

"Mr. Sonic!"

It _was_ him, the blue Mobian hedgehog who had rescued her from Eggman's attack on the festival. He had a friend with him, a small orange-yellow fox with two bushy tails who was waving cheerfully with both hands from behind Sonic, but all Elise could think was _he came, he came, he didn't leave me._

Relief flooded through her, replacing the numbness she'd been so carefully maintaining, and for a second all her royal training left her. She ran forward, dropped to her knees, and flung her arms around his neck.

He stumbled back slightly in surprise. He was a warm, solid presence, comforting after her ordeal, and after a second he hugged her back, laughing a little. "Just call me Sonic."

Elise drew back, suddenly embarrassed at her behavior - what had come over her? - but Sonic didn't seem perturbed, just concerned. "Are you okay? Eggy didn't cause you too much trouble? Aside from the whole kidnapping thing, I mean."

She stifled a small huff of laughter and said, "I'm so glad you came."

Sonic grinned up at her - he was so short that, even kneeling, her eyes remained at a higher level than his. "I always keep my word. What, you think I'd abandon you to that bald menace?"

"No - I mean, I just - "

A yelp from the fox cut her off. "Sonic!" he cried, staring back at the hole they had made in the wall.

Elise got to her feet quickly. Dr. Eggman had stepped through it into the room, a smirk visible behind his mustache, hands clasped casually behind his back. A feeling of disgust crept up Elise's back as she looked at him, the man who had caused so much terror to her people, taken her from her city, tried to take her emerald, the only reminder she had of -

"Looks like a pesky rat has stuck its nose where it doesn't belong," he said, staring down his nose at Sonic. "Well, a hedgehog, to be more precise…."

Sonic stepped in front of Elise and placed a hand on his hip _(so casual in the face of danger, so unafraid)_ and said, "Sorry, Eggy. Just thought I'd drop in to give my regards to your hostage."

Eggman thrust a finger in Sonic's direction, his brow lowering dangerously. "The princess is _mine_ until I unlock the secrets of the Flames of Disaster. So don't presume to get in my way, hedgehog."

Elise swallowed revulsion and fear, rising hot in her throat.

Then she felt a distant thudding, reverberating through the floor and up through her shoes. Sonic and Tails both tensed, their ears twitching, and she had a feeling they could sense it too. Eggman gave the three of them a nasty smile and stepped aside, gesturing theatrically to the metal grate in the wall, which was beginning to rise.

"I welcome you to meet my new pet - the Egg Cerberus."

At the end of the tunnel beyond, emerging from the darkness, was what looked like some kind of hot red antenna - and attached to it -

"Tails," Sonic said, stepping further in front of Elise and not taking his eyes off the growing figure in the tunnel. Elise's heart was pounding - it was getting bigger by the second, and looked almost like….

Tails nodded. "Got it. Princess, let's go!"

And then chaos erupted - the automaton emerged from the tunnel into the room, far too big to fit, roaring mechanically - Elise screamed and stumbled back only to find her wrists gripped in Tails' hands - she gasped and clung on as he rose into the air, his twin tails keeping himself and her aloft. He rose through the crumbled hole in the ceiling, and before her eyes could adjust to the bright light of the desert outside, the ruined stone below them shattered completely, chunks of rock flying in every direction.

The mechanical dog was tearing the place up, and Elise couldn't help letting out another cry of terror, dangling from the hands of a tiny Mobian fox who could somehow fly, a forty foot drop the only thing between her and death - and her heart froze as she realized something.

 _"Sonic!"_ she yelled, kicking her feet. "We left him! We left him down there!"

"Gah - princess, please!" Tails' grip on her wrists tightened and he strained for a second. Elise stopped kicking even though her fear was dangerously close to consuming her. "He's fine! Trust me, he does this all the time - "

Elise's gaze remained fixed downward. The ruin was expansive, and she watched as the dog tore a trail through it, ancient buildings utterly crumbling under its assault. It was a terrifying thing, a strange red antenna sticking out like a unicorn's horn from its forehead. One last smash, and it broke through the wall of what looked like a large central courtyard - and Elise gasped with relief as she saw a small blue figure racing along ahead of it.

"See?" Tails said, staring down with her. "I told you he would be fine."

He flew them closer, and Elise had an aerial view as Sonic raced around the beast, always staying ahead of it, but not so far that it gave up the chase. He was just as fast as she remembered him from the night before - unbelievably, physics-defyingly fast. She and Tails descended to the outer rim of the courtyard and her feet touched down on the stone - she wobbled a little as Tails released her and alit next to her.

"He's used to fighting big things like this," he said, watching the scene as though it were no more exciting than a football game. Elise had to remember to close her mouth as she stared down in utter shock, heart still racing.

Sonic glanced up for a split second, taking in the two of them standing at the edge of the high courtyard wall, and Elise knew he was making sure they were safe. Then he grinned and came to a halt, turning to face the dog, which was pounding toward him at a terrifying pace.

At the last second, he took a running start and slid, leaning back and skidding directly underneath the dog's mechanical underbelly. The dog pushed all its weight back on its haunches, trying to slow its forward rush, but before it could recover Sonic was back on his feet and had reversed direction entirely, taking a flying leap at a glowing ridge on its back.

And he grinded - grinded like he was riding a railing, sliding up its back on the soles of his shoes and pushing off to grab hold of its antenna, hanging on for dear life as the dog almost seemed to convulse at the touch.

"Sonic!" Tails shouted from next to Elise. "Make him run into something!"

Sonic yanked the antenna to the side, and the dog swung around in that direction, and Elise understood - he could force the dog to obey his commands by manipulating its antenna. The dog began to run in a frenzy, and Elise braced herself for impact as it headed for the section of wall just next to them, but at the last second it skidded and shook its head madly, almost throwing Sonic off. Elise called out, but he managed to regain his balance, and gripped the antenna more firmly. She could hear him grunting with exertion from where he stood. _"Listen_ to me!"

The dog reared back, seemingly torn between fighting back and obeying, and took off running again. It ran in a circle around the courtyard, trying its best to throw Sonic off its head but still subject to his whims. Elise was so mesmerized by the dog's erratic movements that she didn't notice Tails backing up, or tugging at her hand, until the second she realized that the dog was running full tilt straight at their section of wall.

Her eyes widened.

She took a single step back, and then the dog smashed into the wall, crumpling into itself - and the bricks of the wall dislodged, shattered. Elise's ankles buckles as she slipped toward the edge. She screamed, falling, falling, hair flying into her eyes, grasping out at something, _anything_ to break her fall -

\- and nearly had the breath knocked out of her as something caught her from below, something that felt like large hands, reverseing the direction of her fall. Sonic had managed to catch her, leaping off the dog as it crashed and burned, and he landed with her in his arms at the intact edge of the courtyard wall, next to a wide-eyed Tails.

"I'm sorry," Tails babbled, looking a little shell-shocked, "I tried to pull you back, I - "

"No," Elise said, still gasping for breath, "it was my fault, I wasn't paying enough attention - "

"Hey, no one's to blame!" Sonic said, letting go of her with one hand so her feet flopped awkwardly down onto the stone. She squeaked, trying to regain her balance, still half-leaning back into Sonic's other arm. Sonic reached out and grabbed Tails' hand, and Tails gripped back, looking like this was something they'd done countless times before. "Care to give us a lift out?"

Tails' twin tails began to whirl again, and Elise found herself being drawn closer to Sonic as he held on to her tightly with one hand, the stone below falling away once again as they took to the air. The edge of the main ruin wasn't far away, patches of grass and half-collapsed pillars visible in the sands beyond, and they descended quickly until Elise's feet touched down onto coarse desert grass in the shade of a rocky outcropping, the hot summer sun beating down on them overhead.

The others handed next to her with soft thuds of their shoes on the grass.

"Everyone all right?" Sonic asked, staring around at Elise and Tails.

Elise glanced down at herself. A few chunks of broken rock had hit her in the fall, and there was a run in her hose, but she couldn't see anything else wrong, and the most she could feel was a bad bruise or two. So she nodded. "I'm fine, thanks."

"Next time, Sonic, maybe _don't_ crash the big metal dog into the foothold we're standing on," Tails said, brushing stray dirt out of his fur, and Sonic cocked him a quick grin.

"No promises."

Elise stared at the both of them, unsure what to say. She wasn't the best at socializing, and next to these two Mobians who clearly knew each other well, she felt distinctly out of place. "I, uh…."

Something like the sound of a distant airplane caught her attention, and she saw the ears of the Mobians in front of her twitch and begin to swivel, looking for the source. Sonic turned, and together they all stared out at the ruined pillars and stretches of sand further out. Just overhead, what looked to Elise like at least a hundred of the white mechs that had attacked the festival were flitting overhead with those strange metal wings of theirs, landing in groups in and around the outer ruins.

That was their only way out….

Sonic folded his arms as he stared out at them. "Man, these guys just don't give up, do they?"

Tails hopped in front of both of them. "Let's split up!"

Sonic raised an eyebrow.

"I'll get their attention, make a target of myself, lead them away. Meanwhile, you can take the princess and get her back to the city!"

Elise's eyes widened. She knew Mobians matured on a somewhat different schedule from humans, but Tails seemed so young - she could hardly believe he would be up to something like this. But Sonic just tossed him a quick thumbs-up and said, "Sounds good to me. You be careful, buddy. Meet you back at the city."

Tails grinned and bounced a little on his feet. "Leave it to me!" Then he turned and began to whir his tails around once more, like the blades of a helicopter, rising above the sands in front of them straight toward the masses of robots in the outer ruins.

"Will he be okay?" Elise said, a hand automatically raising to her chest, a nervous habit she'd picked up when she was young.

Sonic turned back to her. "Oh, yeah, he'll be fine. Kid's been with me through a whole lot. And he's a genius, _literally_ \- his special interest is mostly aviation, but he'll have a few tricks up his sleeve." Then he held out his hands as though carrying a heavy load in front of him. "Mind getting on board? Unless you wanna try keeping up with me on foot."

Even despite his cheeky grin, it took Elise a few moments to realize he was kidding her.

"Oh - yes, of course."

Awkwardly, she moved closer, and allowed him to scoop her off her feet, back into his arms. She couldn't deny it felt a little odd for her, but Sonic's grip was firm, and he was beginning to get a _look_ in his eye, a look of determination that somehow set her slightly more at ease.

"All right, princess - hold on right!"

"O-okay - and you don't have to keep calling me 'princess,' you can just call me Eli-aaaaaAAAA!"

Her last word became a scream of shock as Sonic took off at a speed she hadn't even realized was possible, racing toward the outskirts of the ruins, and all Elise could do was brace herself for the ride.


	7. Chapter 7

**_Outer desert ruins, midday_**

Sonic leapt from pillar to ruined pillar on his path out of the desert, hardly seeming slowed by the tall human girl in his arms. Elise, however, was having significantly more difficulty adjusting. Last night, he had mostly run in a straight line with her - but now he jumped and flipped around at a pace that had her gasping for breath, her heart racing. She'd never experienced something so terrifying before, nothing so _reckless,_ so… exhilarating…?

Her stomach dropped and she yelled as for a long, long second, they fell through empty air - then she let out an _oomph_ as Sonic landed, one foot forward, sliding along a fallen pillar as though he were surfing on the worn stone. She looked up, her eyes wide, to see him laughing.

Her terror, his amusement - he was quite the daredevil type, it seemed.

To her left and some distance away, Elise noticed a small yellow and white speck flying through the air, other grayish specks chasing it. It looked like Tails had taken to his role of decoy with ease, but she couldn't help hoping that Sonic's confidence in his friend's abilities wasn't misplaced. He was still so young….

 _But so was I, and I survived._

She and Sonic met their first group of mechs shortly ahead, hovering in a line across a stretch of bare sand. Elise stiffened as they turned in their direction, guns at the ready - then yelped as Sonic leapt directly _toward_ them, feet first. Elise was whipped around as he hopped from robot to robot, sending each one plummeting toward the sands below, using them almost like stepping stones to reach the next bit of ruined pillar lying in the sand.

Elise adjusted more quickly than she might have expected to the arrangement. Her ride was indeed reckless, but not overly so - more than once she noticed that he seemed to be deliberately turning his body in ways that shielded her from any attacks by stray mechs, even though as he ran not a single flying bullet touched him. And he was _fast,_ faster than any living creature should have been able to be. She'd heard of Mobians with powers before, beyond what any human could do, but….

That was when he slipped.

The edge of a broken piece of stone crumbled as his feet impacted against it, and as it gave way he went falling, both he and Elise letting out cries of shock as they tumbled toward the sand below.

Time slowed - Elise was panicking, she'd heard stories of dry quicksand in the Soleannan deserts before, people and even vehicles swallowed up in seconds never to be seen again, and they were falling, falling, what could she _do - ?_

She gasped as a point over her heart blazed with unexpected heat, and coughed as Sonic landed on what felt like solid ground, even more solid than ordinary non-deadly sand. She stared around wildly, realizing that they were encased in a strange, glowing orange bubble, flickering and moving almost like fire. _But how…?_

"Whoa!" Elise looked up to see Sonic looking just as surprised as she felt. He glanced down at her. "You doin' this, Elise? Some kinda cool trick I've never heard of?"

 _No,_ she wanted to say, _I've never seen anything like this before in my life, I have no idea what could be causing it._ But again she became aware of that point of heat in her chest, and wondered if she was wrong. She swallowed. "Uh… I don't know."

Sonic just shrugged. "Well, it saved us from a nasty fall, so I'm not complaining. Gonna get off this sand in case it pops or something, though."

He began to run again, leaping easily up onto another nearby bit of crumbled rock, then bouncing straight off onto a solid rock wall that Elise knew the old temple nestled against on the other side. She gasped as he adjusted his grip on her slightly, and the wall became almost completely vertical, so he was running sideways - somehow kept up by his sheer momentum.

The blood rushed to her head as she clung on tight, hanging almost upside down, and a second later the fiery bubble around them vanished. Elise felt strangely drained, which only seemed to confirm it had somehow come from her, but she hardly had time to ponder the thought - Sonic pushed off once more and landed on a large, flat stone surface, clearly a wall which had fallen sometime in the past. Just ahead, Elise could see green on the horizon - freedom.

Sonic clearly sensed it too, and pushed his speed higher, whipping past robots in their path faster than any car she'd ever seen and hopping down onto sand that was definitely solid, as she could see footprints - likely those of him and Tails as they'd come to find her in the ruins.

Sonic stumbled as he landed, grunting, and Elise opened her mouth to ask what was wrong, but he only continued running, eyes pointing straight ahead.

No more mechs in their path, only grasslands ahead, the same grasslands that surrounded Castle Town - they were home free.

* * *

 ** _Inside the ruins, a few minutes later_**

The inner ruins went deep, carved from the solid stone of the cliffside with a skill that impressed Silver, motifs of what looked like regal birds and shining suns covering every inch of the walls. The place smelled abandoned, existing for hundreds of not thousands of years largely undisturbed until now - and yet there was something in the air that made his skin tingle. Something a little bit like how he felt when his entire body lit up with the light of his mental powers, but deeper, more powerful.

It made him shiver.

As he and Amy ventured deeper, they encountered the occasional robot left by Dr. Eggman, but they seemed lost, as though they hadn't any idea how they'd gotten there. They still attacked, but they seemed almost as if something was causing them to malfunction, throwing attacks in any random direction, including at their mates. It made them easy to take down, but it was more than a little creepy.

He and Amy made a pretty good team, but it still felt wrong, somehow. He'd been fighting alongside Blaze and her unique style in battle for years, yet she was still missing, lost somewhere in this strange world. The Iblis Trigger wasn't the only one he was looking for, and worry was beginning to get to him.

"I wanna know who lit these torches," Amy said as they walked through several squarish rooms containing only old pots, several shattered, others knocked over. Doors opened and closed around them as they walked, as though they had minds of their own. "It doesn't even look like Eggman has been in here - it's weird."

"Mmm," was Silver's only reply. The incessant prickling sensation at the back of his neck was beginning to fray his nerves.

He and Amy passed another room filled with sand that rolled and rippled along in the absence of any obvious motivating factors, and emerged into a long hallway which curved after a dip just up ahead. The door ground shut behind them. Faintly burning torches along the walls provided the only illumination. The place seemed empty, but….

A gold-braceleted hand seized his arm and yanked him to the side, making him stumble. Amy yelped next to him as he nearly toppled into her, but they both regained their balance after a moment. Silver straightened and opened his mouth to ask her what she'd done that for, when he saw what she had pulled him out of the way of - a huge stone ball, easily twice his size, was sitting just where they'd been standing a moment before. It sat perfectly still. It didn't even seem to have fallen or rolled, just… appeared.

"Where'd that come from?" he said, slightly dumbfounded.

He was relieved when he turned back to see Amy standing with an expression that looked as lost as he felt. "I don't know," she said, staring wide-eyed at it. "I didn't even know it was gonna appear, I just got a weird feeling and pulled you out of the way." Then her eyes slid past it to the sloping hallway beyond. "I'd almost think it was part of a puzzle or something."

"Do you think we… take it with us?"

Amy's hammer materialized in her hands, and Silver backed up swiftly. "Only one way to find out," she said, and took a mighty swing.

The hammer hit the ball with tremendous force - and bounced off as though the ball were locked in place.

"Gah!" Amy gritted her teeth and shook her dominant hand around, hissing in pain. "Geez! What _is_ this thing anyway?"

Silver stretched out a hand and focused his energy on the ball. A cyan glow appeared around it, but when he tried to lift it, he met some kind of invisible force. No matter how hard he mentally strained, it was like trying to lift a skyscraper.

He let go, frustrated.

"Well, obviously we have to do _something_ with it, or why would it have appeared here?" Amy glowered at the ball. "I swear it's like this whole temple is full of magic or something…."

Silver placed his hands flat on the ball's surface and pushed, his feet slipping and struggling for purchase on the smooth stone below. The ball seemed anchored to the ground. In his frustration, a small burst of psychokinetic energy shot from his hands straight into the ball - and to his amazement, it went flying off down the hallway like it had been struck by the hand of Iblis itself.

He and Amy exchanged a quick glance, then took off running after it.

It bounced on the hard ground as it went, not at all stone-like, and went ricocheting off the side of the wall at the curve. Silver and Amy skidded as they followed it, and then paused to gape at what lay before them - another hallway, stretching out into blackness as though it had no end. At the side of the walls were pits, stretching down into darkness and seeming almost bottomless.

The ball, still holding the momentum from Silver's push, was rolling straight toward one of these pits.

Amy couldn't hit it, and he couldn't lift it - so Silver darted forward as it teetered on the edge and sent another bolt of kinetic energy into it at an angle, pushing it back onto solid ground. Something told him he didn't want the ball falling into one of those pits. Maybe Amy was right - this was some sort of puzzle after all.

"Nice save," Amy said, coming up behind him.

"Thanks," he said, and then put aside all conversation in favor of concentrating on the ball, giving it little, gentle pushes here and there to guide it down the hallway and around the pits. It would have been tedious if it wasn't for that infernal itching of his skin, the ruins vibrating with so much of that strange energy that he thought it might drive him mad….

The distraction intensified, suddenly almost to the point of pain, and his concentration slipped.

"Silver!" Amy shrieked, but by the time he realized what was happening it was too late - the ball was tilting into a pit and falling, disappearing into darkness, and as Silver gaped down at it, stunned at his own failure, the ruins began to rumble.

"I think we should get out of here," he said.

The ground began to move.

He looked around wildly - sections of the floor were sliding into the walls, leaving only the black pit below, deeper than he could see. Silver wobbled slightly as his section began to slide in, and spun to face Amy, whose eyes were wide with fear.

"There's no way out!" she screamed over the cacophony of grinding stone.

And she was right - even despite the distance he'd pushed the ball, the end of the hall was still nowhere in sight, and turning back the way they came showed the same view, the curve in the hallway gone.

 _No end to the nightmare, no end…._

Silver darted forward and grabbed Amy around the waist just as their slab of stone reached the wall, and kicked off. She cried out, wrapping her arms automatically around his neck, but he caught them both with his mind, hovering midair over the abyss. It was truly endless now, every bit of floor having sunk into the wall, nothing but tan stone and blackness surrounding them.

"What do we do?" Amy yelled, and he winced at the loud voice in his ear, but he had no answer - his power was already running thin, his mental energy nearly exhausted and his mind overwhelmed by that damn distracting tingling, they were about to fall, and when they fell, there would be nothing, no one left to save the world, _no one but Blaze - Blaze - !_

Silver gasped and jerked as if awakening from a nightmare. He was standing on fine, soft sand, the bright sun beating down on him from overhead, his fur hot as though he'd been standing here for a long time. He blinked, then shook himself, and noticed Amy standing nearby, looking similarly confused.

"What…?" she said, staring around at their surroundings uncomprehendingly.

They were back outside the ruins, the door to the interior closed and sealed shut as if it had never opened at all. He gave it a smack with the palm of his hand, but it remained still, looking old and dusty from disuse and time.

"Do you think… all that was some sort of dream?" Amy said, touching the door alongside him.

The tingling sensation was gone. He wondered if Amy had felt it too.

"It was almost like that temple was alive," she said, walking back and forth and staring up at the carvings of the bird and the sun on the door. "But lost - like something was really wrong. Like it was going insane."

"You think something like that can happen? A building can just… come alive and then go crazy?"

She shrugged. "I believe in magic. I'd be stupid not to."

Silver shivered even despite the heat.

"Well, whatever it is," he said, turning away from the door, "I don't think we'll be finding who we're looking for in there."

"Yeah, no kidding. _I'm_ definitely not going back in. Oh, I hope Sonic is okay…."

Silver shook his head slightly. He'd almost forgotten why they'd even gone inside the ruins in the first place - looking for her crush. "If anything, he probably headed back to the city. We barely saw any robots in there at all."

Amy sighed, then began to walk, their footsteps still faintly visible in the sand leading back the way they'd come. "Guess it's a long walk back, then…."

Silver followed behind her, still a little shaken by his experiences in the ruins, still worried for his friend, wherever she was - and still worried for the fate of the world.

* * *

 ** _Some distance from the desert_**

The hard impacts of sneakers on sand changed gradually to softer rustling as Sonic ran, Elise in his arms, out of the desert and into the grasslands he and Tails had passed through earlier that day. His arm throbbed, but he ignored it as he ran, the sun beating down on them from overhead hot but calming, until when he glanced back the orange-brown hue of the desert was no longer visible.

Elise had remained largely quiet since they'd left the sand behind, but she roused slightly as he slowed, the pensive look on her face becoming carefully neutral. He came to a stop on a grassy hill, an old fallen log nearby breaking the slightly monotony of endless green, and set the princess back on her feet. Her hair was ruffled from the run, and she had to straighten her dress - now covered in dust - upon standing, but otherwise she looked unharmed.

She seemed to collect herself for a moment, then bowed her head a little stiffly, far too formally. "I have no words to express how grateful I am for your help, Mr. Sonic."

He shook his head and grinned up at her. "Didn't I already tell ya? It's just Sonic."

She opened her mouth to reply, then her eyes widened and she let out a gasp, her expression becoming horrified. "You're hurt!"

Sonic gritted his teeth - he was hoping she wouldn't notice - and followed her gaze down to his upper arm. He hadn't even realized how bad it looked. Streaks of half-dried blood had formed all down his arm from where the bullet had hit, and even hardy as he was, he couldn't deny it stung madly. But he lifted his arm, shook it around, flexed the muscle. No serious damage, as far as he could tell. "It's nothing."

"What _happened?"_

"Got shot, I think."

Elise stared at him, aghast.

"I told you, it's _nothing - "_

"Don't say that!" Her formal demeanor had vanished, and for what it was worth, Sonic was glad. She seemed more herself this way. Elise dropped to her knees in the grass and whipped a white handkerchief embroidered with a sun-and-bird pattern from a pocket of her dress, and began to use it to wipe the worst of the blood away. "Don't worry, it's clean."

"I wasn't worried." Unsure what to do with himself as Elise went to work tying the cloth around his wound, he took to awkwardly staring around at the landscape, at the sky. "It's not even the first time I've gotten shot, you know. I think it only grazed me anyway, it doesn't even hurt that much…."

"I'm sorry."

Sonic's eyes flicked back to Elise, who had finished her work and was now hanging her head just above his shoulder. "It's all my fault."

"What?"

"That you got hurt. That you had to go through all that to rescue me. It never would have happened if I hadn't let him kidnap me."

Sonic stared at her. Held prisoner, terrorized by Eggman, and all she could think about was being a burden on him?

He found himself shaking his head. "Hey, just smile."

Elise's head jerked up to look at him, her expression surprised - more so than he would have expected. He grinned down at her encouragingly, hoping she'd follow his lead, but she just stared.

Sonic was just ready to say something more to break the awkward silence when a bluish-purple blur flitter in front of his face and landed on his nose. He started, then tried to see what it was, nearly crossing his eyes to get a look at it.

Then he heard a soft laugh. He refocused his gaze to see Elise smiling, really smiling, giggling at his predicament. She stretched out a finger to the thing on his nose, and it took off once more, allowing him to get a good look - a butterfly, fluttering off into the sky.

Elise got back to her feet, staring after it, the ghost of her smile still present on her face. _Good._ She looked back down at him, and he said, "See? Everything always gets a little bit better if you just smile."

"I suppose," she said after a moment, but she still seemed uncertain.

He turned and began to walk through the grass, heading back the way he knew Castle Town was located, and heard the soft rustling behind him as Elise followed shortly behind.

"So," he said, "back there Eggman mentioned the 'Flames of Disaster.' Is that why he's after you?"

"Yes." Elise increased her pace until she was walking side by side next to him. "The name of the sun god our country honors is Solaris. It is said that Solaris' benevolence provides the warmth in our lives, but that his rage would destroy the world. His wrath comes in the form of the Flames of Disaster - huge, destructive, endless flames that consume the world."

She hesitated, biting her lip. "There are those who think these are old myths, and they don't really mean anything, but ten years ago, we… we almost faced the full force of his fury. I was a child then, so I don't remember it very well. But I - I lost my father then…."

Sonic stopped as he realized she was no longer next to him. She had halted a few paces behind, clasping her hands in front of her and staring at the ground.

"And now that man… Dr. Eggman… is trying to cause the same disaster again." She swallowed, looking conflicted. "I don't know what to do…."

Sonic was not the best at comforting people. He knew this. Every time he tried, it sounded hollow, awkward, forced. He didn't have the words for it. So instead of offering stock phrases of reassurance, he strode back to her and closed his hand around her wrist. "Come on."

Her head snapped up. "Sonic?"

He turned resolutely and began to run - slowly, very slowly, more of a jog than anything, pulling her along behind him. "Just follow my lead!"

"Sonic - ah, wait! I can't run that fast!"

"Don't worry." He increased the pace, little by little, painfully slow by his standards, but fast enough that Elise had to push herself to keep up. "Just raise your head and run!"

He let go, and the continued thuds of her feet on the grass behind him were an encouraging sound. Sonic glanced back to see Elise had taken his advice, running straight forward, the wind blowing her auburn hair all around, a delighted look beginning to spread over her face.

Then her mouth hardened into a determined line, and she began to run even faster, kicking the heels off her feet and sending them spinning off into the grass behind her, pushing harder. Sonic whooped and kept pace, never fast enough to outstrip her, always just far enough ahead to encourage her. Before long, she was smiling, then laughing - then coughing, then tumbling forward, rolling in the long grass over and over until she came to a stop.

Sonic skidded to a halt and stepped back to her. She was lying on her back, arms outstretched on either side of her, breathing heavily but laughing, laughing, eyes closed with the force of her smile. He laughed too, and sat down next to her, hardly winded from his exertions but happy all the same.

His plan had worked after all.

"Feels great, doesn't it?" he said to her once her breathing had calmed down a little. She sat up, brushing grass stains from her white celebration dress, still laughing lightly.

"Yes… I've never run so fast before…." She shook her head helplessly. "And my sandals. How terribly un-princess-like of me."

"Eh, I've never been big on formalities." Sonic stood and gave her a quick thumbs-up. "I have a philosophy: nothing starts until you take action. And if you have time to worry, then run."

She only continued to smile at him. He took off at top speed, back the way they'd come, and scooped up her sandals before reversing course and returning within seconds. Her eyes went wide; she still clearly wasn't used to his speed. Sonic bowed exaggeratedly and handed her the sandals. "Your coiffure, my liege."

Elise burst into giggles once again and took the sandals. "Those aren't… those aren't the right words."

Once she'd slipped them back on, he offered her a hand and pulled her back to her feet. "Now," he said as she brushed the last of the grass off her dress. "Whaddaya say we get you back home?"

She nodded, and together they set back out toward Castle Town, Sonic feeling warm inside at the thought of a new friend.


	8. Chapter 8

**_Kingdom Valley, mid-afternoon_**

Hours and hours passed before Shadow and Rouge finally reached the valley where their rendezvous point was located. The trek through the wilder areas of Soleanna had been largely uneventful, but they had encountered more than one rogue group of Eggman's mechs along the way, something that only roused Rouge's suspicions further. Her fears were confirmed as the ruined towers of the valley came into view as they crested a hill, and more Eggman robots than she ever wanted to see in her life (save one, perhaps) were swarming the area as though trying to blockade the city beyond.

"Where did you say this rendezvous point was again, Rouge?" Shadow said, arms folded and glaring out at the scene.

Rouge's mouth twisted wryly. "Far side of the valley, closer to the city."

"So you're telling me that if we'd just taken the direct route, as we planned to before, we would have been there hours ago."

"Fun, isn't it?"

Shadow blew out an irritated breath and readied himself to kick off. "We might as well clear them out while we make our way through."

Rouge smirked to herself and spread her wings, taking to the air as Shadow began his descent down the hill toward their destination. "Sweetheart, you read my mind."

* * *

 ** _The outskirts of Castle Town, afternoon_**

The sun was beginning to fall in the sky as Silver and Amy returned to Castle Town, and Silver's frustration had truly risen at this point. Over half his time was up, and he only had one more full day to find his quarry - at this rate, he was set to fail spectacularly.

The thought was beginning to drive him mad.

"I can't believe we haven't found Sonic yet," Amy said, idly swinging her feet around as they trudged along one of the outer streets. "I wonder where he went." The city guards were keeping the outermost areas of the city clear to protect against any further attacks from Eggman's mechs, but had let the both of them back in easily once they realized they were the ones who had beaten back the attack earlier.

Silver opened his mouth to reply to Amy, perhaps offer some kind of stock reassurance - and froze, his breath catching in his chest.

 _There._

There he was, exactly who he was looking for, the one he'd seen at the festival last night - blue fur, red sneakers. It was the other hedgehog, the Iblis Trigger. Emerging with a human girl - no, the _princess_ of all people - into an empty plaza just a street away….

His heart began to pound furiously.

"Silver?" He started as he heard Amy's voice at his side. She was staring at him curiously, head tilted to the side. "Hey, everything okay in there?"

Silver swallowed, cleared his throat. "Uh, yeah," he said, mind racing. He couldn't let her see what was about to happen. She was so kind, and for all his good intentions Silver was about to become a murderer. He'd accepted his role from the start, but Amy was just an innocent bystander. He had to distract her.

"Um, I was just thinking maybe we should split up," he said, stepping around her, hoping to direct her view away from the plaza. "You know, maybe you head into the crowded areas or something, and I'll, uh… look around here, or…."

"Oh!" Amy nodded. "Good idea! I'll head back to the town center and get up somewhere high to look around. We'll meet up back here?"

"Yeah, yeah," Silver said, feeling slightly frantic, hoping against hope his quarry wouldn't disappear again while he wasn't looking. "Go ahead, I'll cover this area."

"Got it! See you in a bit!"

He watched after her for a few seconds, making sure she'd be out of sight, then whipped around. The other hedgehog and the princess were still there, just reaching the other side of the plaza, strolling along and laughing together. Silver clenched his fists at his sides, willing his stomach to stop fluttering, forcing himself to focus, readying himself….

He began to stride forward.

* * *

Sonic had managed to keep Elise's spirits high the entire walk back to Castle Town. She'd tensed a bit upon reaching the gate back into the city, perhaps expecting the guards to stir up attention, but they'd only waved them through, giving Sonic instructions to quietly escort her around the empty areas on the outskirts of the town back to the royal castle out across the water. Elise had visibly relaxed upon hearing this, and she and Sonic had kept up their conversation as they walked, enjoying the sun overhead, Sonic more than happy to appreciate the architectural beauty of the place as they crossed an empty plaza (though he couldn't deny his urge to run along the rooftops for a bit).

He felt that hardly anything could have spoiled the moment - interesting locale, good conversation, a new friend - if it hadn't been for the ball of cyan energy that appeared from nowhere, speeding toward him.

Elise gasped sharply as he scooped her up and leapt away to the side, letting the energy splash against the cobblestones on the ground. Before Elise even likely knew what was happening, Sonic had set her down as gently as he could manage while still recovering from the dive and straightened, already staring around for the source of the attack.

It wasn't one of Eggman's creations, as he'd expected.

"I've been looking for you."

The white hedgehog descended from above, bathed in a cyan glow that told Sonic he was the one who'd launched the attack, and landed in front of him and Elise. He wore battered boots and gloves with strange circuit-like markings on them, and his expression was angry, conflicted. His voice was tight when he spoke.

"You're the Iblis Trigger," he said, pointing an accusing finger in Sonic's direction. Sonic quietly motioned Elise behind him, hoping she'd take the hint and back away, but she only stared, seeming slightly in shock. "And _I_ know what you're planning to do tomorrow."

Sonic raised an eyebrow. "No offense, buddy, but what are you _talking_ about?"

"I'm _talking_ about your plans to release Iblis into this world!" The hedgehog's tone rose, his anger seeming to build by the second, only bewildering Sonic more. "I know your secret, and your actions will condemn us _all!"_

"Who is Iblis? For that matter, who are _you?"_

Elise was staring wide-eyed beside Sonic. "He's…."

"My name is Silver." The hedgehog clenched a fist in front of him, and Sonic tensed, readying for another attack. "And for the future of the world, I've vowed to destroy you."

"Elise," Sonic said tersely as another ball of energy began to form around Silver's hand. "Get out of the way."

Silver's entire body lit up.

 _"Now!"_

Sonic dove just as the energy flew, narrowly dodging the second blast. He rolled to his feet and charged at Silver full speed, hoping to disable him quickly to figure out just what his beef was -

His entire body seized up.

Sonic struggled to keep his feet moving, keep running, even to just turn his head, but it was like electricity running through his veins - holding him in place like a puppet, suspended just off the ground. Silver's hand was up, the palm pointed straight at him, his body shimmering with the same cyan glow that Sonic was now bathed in - and suddenly, too late, he understood.

"It's no use," Silver said, glaring at him, his eyes intense with what looked to Sonic like downright hatred. He struggled fruitlessly against the force holding him in place - psychokinesis, his power was psychokinesis, and as long as Sonic was caught in his grasp, he couldn't break free.

He sucked in a breath and braced himself as the glow intensified, then his head was jerked painfully forward as a blast shot him back, flying through the air until his back hit the nearby building with tremendous force.

All the air was knocked out of his lungs, and Sonic fell forward, coughing, feeling the handkerchief around his arm begin to moisten as the blow reopened his wound. He gritted his teeth, forced himself to stand, and glowered back at Silver, who was looking furiously satisfied.

"All right, pal," he growled, adjusting his stance. "You want a fight, you got one."

Sonic took off running around the edge of the plaza as Silver charged up another ball of kinetic energy and let it fly, smashing into a window and sending shattered glass scattering over the cobblestones. Clusters of tables and chairs sat all around the edges of the courtyard, and Sonic ducked behind a number of them, hoping to bait Silver into running closer.

It worked - sort of. Silver walked up, his eyes never leaving Sonic's form, just close enough to thrust out his hand and grab almost half of the tables and chairs in one go. "Take _this!"_

Before he could let them fly, Sonic leapt over the remainder, swept himself into a low, spinning kick, and knocked Silver's legs clean out from under him.

The café furniture clattered to the ground as Silver's concentration broke. He was on his feet again in a second, but before he could react Sonic delivered a straight punch to his chest that sent him staggering backward, gasping for air.

"Will you just _stop_ for a second?" Sonic said, staring at his opponent, still bewildered by the attack.

Silver responded by throwing out a hand and yanking it back quick as a flash, and Sonic felt himself hit from behind, thrown forward and partially buried by the same furniture he'd forced Silver to drop a moment before.

Sonic twisted, then spun, using his spines to shred his way out from under the heavy wrought iron, and dashed to the far side of the plaza. He was forced to leap to the side to dodge another barrage of weaponized tables, but then he saw his opening - Silver was panting, looking slightly unsteady on his feet, though still glaring.

He'd used up too much of his mental energy in one go. Sonic charged at him once more, and saw Silver's hand come up - but only a weak flash appeared, and his eyes widened as Sonic leapt at him feet first.

Two flying sneakers to the face were enough to take him down. Silver shielded his face, but the force of the kick spun him completely around and he fell, breathing heavily, onto one knee.

Sonic didn't feel so hot himself, come to think of it. Whatever his issue was, he couldn't deny that Silver had been nothing short of vicious in his attacks. It brought back memories of another superpowered, highly adversarial Mobian hedgehog - and while the story itself was painful to recall, it had ended in friendship, however strange that friendship sometimes was.

 _S'pose it wouldn't hurt to try to cut this off early, then._

Sonic walked around until he stood in front of Silver, whose eyes were closed, looking hurt, defeated. He bent down slightly. "Hey, buddy. You okay?"

Sonic only realized his mistake when he saw the smirk.

Silver's hand flew out once again and a bolt of energy hit him straight in the chest. He was sent flying once more, his back slamming into the wall just behind him - but this time, Silver didn't let go. Sonic could feel the psychic grip around his midsection, squeezing, choking the life out of him, pinning him to the stone wall - he tried to gasp for breath but it was like trying to lift an iceberg with his chest - kicked, struggled, _anything_ to get out of this suffocating grip.

"Stop! Don't hurt him!" he heard Elise screaming from somewhere to his right, but the sound was distant, echoing.

Silver had never been defeated at all. Not even close.

Just as dark spots began to appear at the edge of his vision, abruptly Sonic felt himself being released, and collapsed to the ground, barely catching himself on all fours before his face hit the pavement. He coughed, gasped, breathing raggedly as air reentered his aching lungs, but he knew he couldn't fight back. Not like this.

"Hmph. Is this a joke?" he heard Silver say above him, his voice tinged with disgust. Sonic raised his head enough to see Silver standing in front of him, bending down with his hands on his knees. "How could someone like _you_ cause the destruction of our world?"

Sonic coughed again and managed to draw up enough air to gasp out, "What do you… mean?"

He watched Silver open his mouth, close it again, then straighten up and shake his head. "It doesn't matter," he said, though his tone sounded suddenly conflicted. "For the sake of the future, the Iblis Trigger _must_ be destroyed. That's what I promised. That's what I…."

A scream interrupted him.

Sonic's head jerked up in time to see Elise being lifted into the air by the same pair of metal claws as last night - the Egg Mobile had snuck up while everyone was distracted, Eggman grinning down at him from the pilot's seat.

Sonic scrambled back to his feet just as it began to speed away, up into the air, but another blast hit him from behind, and he went toppling forward again, back to his hands and knees.

"Don't you _dare_ turn your back on me!"

Sonic gritted his teeth.

"It's time I finally put an end to this, Iblis Trigger."

Elise was gone, kidnapped once more so close to safety, and this other hedgehog had threatened him one too many times. His chest still ached, but Sonic clenched a fist and punched it against the ground, ready to fight for his life - and at that moment, a familiar voice screamed "STOP!"

A whoosh of air behind him told him help had arrived.

"Amy?" Silver said, his voice muffled slightly by the third hedgehog standing between him and his quarry. Then his voice hardened. "Get out of my way, Amy. This is _my_ mission."

 _"ABSOLUTELY NOT!"_

The sheer fury in her voice was all too familiar to Sonic, but he heard a shuffling of boots as Silver stumbled back in alarm. Grinning to himself, Sonic pushed himself back to his feet and turned - Amy was standing facing Silver with her arms outstretched, and even without seeing her face, Sonic could tell she was livid with rage.

"Thanks, Amy," he said, rubbing his arm where Elise's handkerchief was still tied. "I appreciate it."

"Leave it to me," she said, her voice tight with anger. "You do what you have to - I've got this loser."

Sonic glanced over her shoulder, where Silver still stood uncertainly, and gave him a tiny, satisfied grin. Then he spun and took off running, even though the Egg Mobile had long since disappeared from the sky. When Amy got like this, not even the forces of hell itself could stop her.

Now it was just to find Eggman again - before he disappeared with the princess for good.

* * *

"The person you were looking for was _Sonic?"_

Silver gritted his teeth.

 _"Were you planning to KILL him?"_

He sighed. "Look, I - "

"You _lied_ to me!" Amy's green eyes were ablaze with pure hatred, standing with her arms still spread as though shielding the entire city from him. "You _used_ me! All along you were hunting him down and you never even told me, you _coward_ , you absolute _monster,_ you - "

Silver stood there, arms hanging limply at his sides, as Amy screamed at him every insult he'd ever heard in his life, along with quite a few that he hadn't, swearing, practically spitting at him.

He shook his head and yelled back. "I didn't _know,_ okay?" He took a step toward her, then thought better of it as her eyes practically caught fire in response. "You never even told me what he looked like, I didn't know we were looking for the same person! If I had known I would never have teamed up with you in the first place - "

"WHAT, SO YOU COULD GO OFF AND KILL HIM IN PEACE?"

Silver clenched his fists at his sides, feeling himself becoming angrier by the second. "He's responsible for _destroying my world!"_

"That's _crazy!"_ she yelled back, jabbing a finger at him. "Sonic would _never_ do that!"

"But it's _true!_ Tomorrow, _literally tomorrow,_ he's going to release a creature into this world that will cause _hundreds of years of devastation, and I LIVED it!_ I came back from the future to try and _stop_ him! You don't understand, I have to - "

 _"NO!"_

Silver flinched and took a step back.

"I don't believe you." She stared at the ground for a second, breathing heavily, then looked back up at him, fire reigniting. "Even if that's what _you_ think, if I had to choose between believing the world and believing Sonic, I would choose _Sonic."_

She spat the last word at him, and it hit him like a bolt of fire to the heart. Before he could summon up the energy to say anything in response, she whirled on her heel and stalked away. He held up a hand with half a mind to run after her, then let it drop and stared down at the ground.

In all his time in this world, looking for his quarry, it had never once occurred to him to wonder if the Iblis Trigger even had a name. He'd become just a symbol in Silver's mind, a sort of figure to direct all his hatred toward. But now… now the Iblis Trigger wasn't a nameless concept but a _person,_ Sonic the Hedgehog, friend of Amy Rose, whom Silver had begun to come to consider a friend as well. The only friend he'd had with him in this world, and now she was gone, and she'd probably hate him forever.

He sighed and shut his eyes. And her _loyalty_ to a friend, her refusal to simply let him die even to save a world….

If Mephiles had approached him in his own time and told him the only way to stop Iblis was to kill Blaze, could he have gone through with it?

He knew the answer to that.

He squeezed his eyes tighter shut, took a deep breath, and reopened them. Amy's red dress had long since disappeared from view, as had Sonic's bright blue form and the contraption that had grabbed the Soleannan princess. The streets were empty, and Silver felt more alone than he ever had in his life - even after his father had died and left him to wander the wastes alone, all those years ago.

 _All those years ago,_ he thought - but that was the future, now. Time travel was beginning to make Silver's head hurt.

He bit his lip and began to walk.

* * *

 ** _Kingdom Valley, afternoon_**

By the time she and Shadow reached the far end of the valley, Rouge was thoroughly unamused. The place was crawling with more battle-ready mechs than, in her opinion, had any right to exist in a locale with so few places to hide. She was forced to use almost her entire remaining stock of bombs, blowing mechs to bits while Shadow launched larger scale attacks off to her side. More than once she simply stood back to watch him at work, tearing robot after robot to bits with kicks, Chaos spears, and the like. She admired his form, and couldn't help being grateful he was around to take care of the heavier fighting.

For her part, Rouge often scouted ahead, relaying information on where to go next back to Shadow in a manner that had served them well in the past - landing next to him to let him know that another intact tower lay ahead, or that the wall to their left looked unstable from the air.

"Why is this place so ruined, anyway?" Shadow asked, readjusting his gloves in the center of the last group of robots they had defeated. "Some of these old castle ruins look ancient, but others seem more recent."

"Exactly right." Rouge reached into her bomb bag and frowned - only two left. Well, she could get GU to replenish her supply once the rendezvous team picked them up. "From what I've read, it's Soleannan tradition to build their royal castles in this valley, standing above the lake. The one at the far end was the most recent, and this one we're standing in is the first. Musta been a thousand years ago this was built - look around.

They stood for a moment, staring up at the room they were currently standing in - if it could even properly be called a room anymore. The roof was completely gone after centuries of wear, and only half the walls still stood. Rouge figured it might have been an ancient dining hall by the faint carvings on the walls, but all furniture was long since gone, taken away or completely disintegrated with time, leaving only a bare, round, open-air platform above the water below.

"The first castle we passed isn't active. It looks abandoned." Shadow kicked the bits of the mech he'd taken apart over the edge, where they splashed into the lake. "But very recent."

"The former king of Soleanna used to reside in that castle," Rouge said, pacing and wondering idly when the team from GUN would arrive. It was long past time, after all, and there shouldn't be any more threats around thanks to her and Shadow's efforts. "But a major accident occurred there ten years ago, and no one's lived there since."

"Accident?"

"Mm." Rouge fished around in her bag and brought out the scepter, turning it over in her hands and admiring its glow. "I heard that a prototype energy engine failed and exploded. Killed the king and a lot of researchers. The whole lab was shut down, and the castle was left as a monument of sorts."

"They built a common scientific lab under a royal castle?" Shadow frowned. "That seems odd."

"The whole story is odd, really. A _lot_ of missing information. You ask me, sounds like there was a cover-up, but no one's ever really looked further into it. I think the name of the plan was - "

" - the Solaris Project?"

Rouge's head snapped up at the same time Shadow's did. Descending from the air above them was a floating vehicle that looked rather familiar, though Rouge could see it had gotten a significant upgrade since the last time she'd encountered it. And sitting in the pilot's seat, the last person she wanted to see at her rendezvous.

"It was an ambitious project named after their eternal sun god," Eggman said, smiling rather nastily down at the pair of them. "And one I've had cause to do quite a bit of research on lately. What a marvelous coincidence."

Rouge placed a hand on her hip and gave him a wave with the hand holding her stolen scepter. "Hi, Doctor."

His response was a slight, mocking bow. "It's been a while, my dear Rouge. And, of course, Shadow."

Out of the corner of her eye, Rouge saw Shadow's mouth tighten into a thin line.

Eggman raised his hand and gave the slightest gesture, and Rouge's ears filled with the cacophonous sound of at least a dozen robots, all descending from hidden positions around the tower walls and landing around her and Shadow in a circle, guns trained on them in the center. Her eyes narrowed - she'd checked this location thoroughly from the air, which could only mean Eggman had positioned those there at the last moment. But how could he have done so without her noticing…?

"I think our chances of the contact making the rendezvous are nil," Shadow muttered, sliding around until they were back to back, tensed for a fight.

"Now," Eggman said as the circle tightened slightly, "if you'd be so kind as to hand back the Scepter of Darkness that you took from me."

 _Scepter of Darkness? Ah, so it has a name, does it?_

This assignment was getting more interesting by the hour.

"Sorry, Doctor," she said, holding the scepter close and making a show of admiring it, "but I've grown attached to my new little trinket. I think I'll keep it, if that's all right with you."

"Come now, I already have one of the pieces of the puzzle stowed safely back on board my battleship. No need to make this harder on yourselves."

"Leave, Doctor," Shadow growled. "We're handling this ourselves."

Eggman's brow furrowed, and he gave another gesture. "Perhaps this will change your mind."

She and Shadow leapt as one - Shadow to the side, Rouge to the air. The missiles from the robots' cannons shattered the stone where they had been standing, creating a small crater and scattering shards of rock everywhere. Rouge twisted midair and hovered, looking down, expecting to see a frustrated Eggman and a very busy Shadow - but Eggman wasn't there. Shadow landed outside the circle of mechs, looked up at her, and his eyes widened.

Rouge spun in time to see the clenched metal fist extending from the Egg Mobile, rushing straight toward her face.

* * *

The blow from Eggman's machine knocked her cold, and as the scepter slipped from her grasp and both began to plummet, Shadow made a split second decision.

 _Rouge or scepter?_

 _Scepter or Rouge?_

There was no contest.

He kicked off, shoving brutally past a mech in his path and leaning back at the last moment, extending his arms. Rouge fell, limp and unconscious, into them, and the jets at the bottom of his shoes activated in time to prevent them from sliding straight into the legs of another mech. He landed on his back, Rouge on top of him, and he pushed her back onto the ground as gently as he could before leaping back to his feet, anticipating another attack.

Instead, he heard Eggman howl "No!" and spun in time to watch the scepter fall, spinning and spinning and landing not ten feet away directly in the center of the circle of robots, shattering into pieces as if it were made of glass.

Immediately, all the robots began to shudder violently and spark from their joints. A flash of strange, dark light emitted from the broken pieces of the scepter, pulsing and flickering like a purplish fire. Rouge began to stir at his feet, putting a hand to her head, and Shadow moved forward cautiously, reaching out to touch the light -

A pulse of sharp energy stung his finger from several feet away and caused him to halt, teeth bared. He heard Rouge yell his name from behind him as the light flashed brighter than before and then grew, shaping itself into a bullet of dark energy, energy that he could feel crawling against his skin even from here.

Shadow drew in a sharp breath as the energy shot off, whipping around the entire circle of robots, each one crumpling in its wake - he could hear Eggman shouting for them to pull back and the engines of his vehicle gunning as the energy grew brighter, drawing power, and despite himself, Shadow took a single step back as it finished its round and darter straight toward him.

At the last second it plunged downward, down into the darker patch of stone where his own shadow lay, and his eyes widened as the energy seemed to absorb the darkness from it, growing, taking form, rising from the ground.

His heart nearly stopped as he saw the shape it took.

"What?" he heard Rouge breathe behind him. "Your shadow… _you're Shadow…."_

It was like looking into a mirror, a mirror that sucked the color out of the world. The being in front of him could have been his twin, with the upturned spines, the jet shoes, even the four rings around the wrists and ankles - except that every part of it that wasn't black was dull gray. It stood with its eyes closed, its arms hanging as though attached to enormous weights, one ear limp, the other twitching as if trying to figure out how it worked. Then it opened its eyes, and Shadow swallowed convulsively - unlike his own, red-orange and alive, these were a poisonous green, slit-pupilled, alien and malevolent.

Perhaps most disturbing of all, the creature had no mouth.

The sound of laughter emanated from its face, and the body shuddered strangely in a manner that Shadow hoped his own never had. It raised its arms and fixated its gaze on him, and he tensed, ready for a fight. But it simply said, "Oh, how ironic fate can be! I never would have believed I would be resurrected through _your_ shade."

Even without a mouth, Shadow could almost feel the cruel smile that would have spread over its face.

It lowered itself into a bow, sweeping one arm across its chest like a puppet being controlled by loose strings. "I thank you, Shadow the Hedgehog."

Shadow stiffened, and felt Rouge do the same behind him.

"Who are you?" he said, his voice tight, still feeling the strange cold crackle of energy in the air around him. "And how do you know my name?"

The being's arm dropped, and with its head still hanging, it began to shuffle toward him, still looking weighed down, heavy, unwieldy. "I'm _Mephiles,"_ it said, as though relishing every word. "Mephiles the Dark. What, did you forget me? We're like old friends, you and I…."

"I don't know you," Shadow said. He heard the click of Rouge's heel on the stone as she took a step back, but he refused to back away as Mephiles reached him, standing barely a foot from his face. Then it raised and tilted its head, and one eye slid around to fix on him.

"I owe much to you, Shadow." It began to raise a hand, and this time Shadow did leap back, lifting a hand of his own in defense as a ball of the same dark energy began to form in Mephiles' palm. "Oh yes. What you gave to me, I now return to you."

The ball of energy grew and sparked, and Shadow reached behind him, grabbing Rouge's wrist.

"A one-way ticket to oblivion."

Then the ball exploded outward and Shadow hissed as it hit him, sucking the breath from his lungs, a twisted but strangely familiar feeling forming in the pit of his stomach as his vision whited out and an intense cold swept over him - Rouge cried out sharply from behind him and he tightened his grip on her, the world spinning and swirling around him until he could no longer tell up from down -

He landed on his feet, but only just, keeping his balance by instinct alone. Rouge's wrist hadn't left his grasp, which was a relief - but upon opening his eyes and looking around, relief quickly turned into a feeling of disturbance.

They were standing in a hallway, a large window overlooking a hillside with a city visible far away - except that the air was gray and hot, the window shattered and grimy, the city completely wrecked. Everything around them looked scorched and long-abandoned, as though a firestorm had swept the entire area years ago, leaving the place completely barren and devoid of life. Even the sky was dark, covered in clouds that were reminiscent of smoke, not a hint of sunlight cutting through.

Rouge stepped forward toward the window, her wrist slipping out of Shadow's grip and her eyes widening. Shadow followed her, staring out at the landscape laid out below them.

"What is this place?" she said, her voice low, as though afraid of disturbing something nearby - even though as far as Shadow could tell, they were the only living things in the area. The thought wasn't a comfort.

"It seems we've been teleported to another location," he said. She glanced at him.

"I could see that." She nudged him. "Maybe we should find out just where we are."

Taking one last long glance out at the wrecked and burned city below, she stepped back and Shadow heard the click of her boots as she began to make her way down the hallway. He nodded and turned to follow her, but he couldn't help staring at the city for one moment longer, his mind racing.

"Mephiles," he murmured aloud, testing the name on his tongue. It wasn't familiar, but something twisted in his gut, something dark.

 _Who is he?_

He shook his head and jogged after Rouge, hoping something in this strange new place would hold answers.


	9. Chapter 9

**_Soleanna New City, evening_**

Sonic got off the trains at the New City station, stretching impatiently as he walked out the doors. It had taken some convincing to get himself a place on the train in the first place, even despite his reputation - apparently they'd barely gotten the trains back up and running since the festival last night, and even then only for Soleannan citizens wanting to get back home or to work, in limited numbers. He could see GU soldiers standing guard near the station entrance, along with some of the Soleannan royal guards.

After Amy's timely rescue, Sonic had run through the streets of Castle Town searching for any sign of the Egg Mobile or Elise, but there was nothing - once again, Eggman had somehow managed to vanish into thin air. Frustrated, he'd wandered the streets until he received a call from Tails telling him he'd made it back safely and was waiting in the New City with Knuckles.

It didn't take him long to find them. Tails and Knuckles were waiting for him just nearby in a small plaza, mostly empty of people, Knuckles turning a strange flat object over and over in his hands as he talked. Sonic waved as he approached.

"Yo, Tails, Knuckles!" he said. "Why're we meeting over here? Thought we were all closer to Castle Town."

"I led those mechs from the desert on a chase as far away from you as possible," Tails said, looking proud of himself. "By the time I lost them, I was closer to here, so I thought it'd be easier for us to meet up here. Knuckles was in the area anyway."

Sonic shrugged. "Fair."

"And by the way," Tails said, "we know what happened with Elise - or at least, that Eggman has her."

"What? How? Did you see him flying away? When he grabbed her he just disappeared, I couldn't chase - "

"We _didn't_ see him," Knuckles said, waving the thing in his hand around. "We know because of this."

Sonic frowned. "What is it?"

"One of his robots found me near the outskirts of the city and wanted me to give it to you." He tossed it over and Sonic caught it easily - it was some sort of flat computer pad, with a screen and a single button. Sonic glanced at the others, who crowded around to see, and pressed the button.

A holographic image extended upwards from the scene, displaying a grainy orange miniature of Eggman, standing and staring forward with his hands clasped behind his back.

"Sonic the Hedgehog," tiny-Eggman said, smiling nastily. "We're both busy men, so I'll make this brief. If you want me to return the princess, then you must give me your Chaos Emerald. Meet me at my base nearby, in the White Acropolis. I've installed a tracker on this device to guide you to it. Oh, and if you decide not to show… I can assure you times will not be pleasant for your new friend."

Eggman disappeared abruptly, replaced by a simple arrow on the screen, pointing like a compass somewhere to Sonic's left.

"He's pretty cocky," Knuckles said in disgust.

"It's most definitely a trap," Tails said as Sonic slowly pulled out the emerald. It glittered deep blue in the dim light from the few sunrays still visible over the skyscrapers of the city. "I don't think for a second Eggman will actually honor his agreement."

Knuckles snorted. "Yeah, not like he ever has before - "

"I'm going."

Tails and Knuckles looked over at Sonic in surprise as he stared into the emerald's depths.

"Sonic?" Tails said.

Sonic looked up at the both of them and grinned. "Well, since Eggman went to the trouble of telling me where he took Elise, I think I should thank him personally."

Knuckles began to smile back. "I could get on board with that."

"Wait," Tails said, running after Sonic as he started down the street, following the arrow on the screen. "Can't we just stop and think about this for one second? Since when has Eggman ever just _told_ us where his base is?"

"Never."

 _"Exactly."_ Tails voice was full of exasperation. "So why go there right away? Maybe we should do a little more research before we charge in. Knuckles, haven't you been tricked more than once by just believing what Eggman told you - "

 _"Hey,"_ Knuckles said irritably. "Don't go there."

"Look," Sonic said, rounding a corner and watching the arrow adjust itself. "Normally I might agree with you, buddy, but right now we've got a scared hostage waiting for us to break her outta there. And I'm not about to wait around and twiddle my thumbs while that's happening."

He didn't feel the need to mention his worries about Eggman's supposed plans with the Flames of Disaster - whatever those truly were.

Tails grumbled a little, but offered no more resistance, and together the trio made their way through the city, following Eggman's directions to his base.

* * *

 ** _Soleanna New City docks, evening_**

Silver's bout of melancholy had taken him all the way across Castle Town, into the train station there, and on a strange trip to a location people called the New City. He hadn't questioned it, just wandered through the buildings there on a halfhearted continued search for Blaze, too tired and discouraged to even notice the grandeur that might have stunned him just a few hours before.

Eventually he found himself near a cliffside that rose high above the city, leading up to some kind of mountain nearby. At the edge of the cliffs sat docks that extended out into the endless water of the ocean, boats with colorful sails tied up to the wooden platforms and people out strolling, chatting, laughing, though Silver could sense the faint tang of underlying fear in the air. The thought that these people had no idea of the hell awaiting them in just one more day's time only made him more bitter, and sitting there on the steps, instead of watching the sunset before him, he hid his face in his hands.

And he sat.

"So this is where you are."

The one voice he'd been most desperate to hear since arriving here sounded behind him, and his heart squeezed as he lifted his head.

"I've been looking for you. I would imagine you haven't just been sitting here this whole time."

Blaze sat down at his side, and even though his spirits immediately lifted at seeing her again, he found he couldn't quite look her in the eye, guilt eating away at him.

"What's wrong?" she said evenly. "You're never this upset."

He swallowed. "Well, uh, Blaze…." Silver took a breath and voiced the thought that had been nagging at him ever since his encounter with Sonic. "To kill someone to save the world… someone innocent… is that really the right thing to do?"

Silver could feel her eyes boring into the side of his head. "What did you see?"

She knew. Of course she knew. He'd encountered something that had shaken her resolve, something which he knew she would find to be a liability. Before he even realized it he found himself on the defensive.

"Look, I saw… I saw a guy who didn't even know who Iblis was, who saved a princess from a madman just because he was there, and I saw a girl who cared about innocent lives, who was willing to die to stop me from killing him. That's what I saw. And I didn't do it. I let him go."

There was a long silence during which he still couldn't meet her gaze, just stared out at the darkening waters along the horizon.

"You're so naïve."

Silver's ear twitched.

Blaze sighed and stared with him into the ocean. "Whether it's right or wrong, I can't really say…. But what I do know is: if we don't take this chance, the future will remain exactly as it is. And I can't stand for that."

She looked at him again, and this time, he returned her gaze. Her amber eyes burned with intensity like her fire. "One life for the life of the world. If we have to, we can feel guilty afterward. But I, for one, would rather feel guilty in a world free of pain."

Silver bit his lip. Looked at the ground. Looked at her, her coat so old and tattered from years of wear but still well taken care of after all this time, a reminder of what they'd been through. Looked at his own gloves, the markings on them so familiar to him after all this time, given to him by his father just before he died.

"What… what if we're wrong?"

"I guess that's a chance we'll just have to take."

Silver took a deep breath, and nodded.

He stood suddenly, heart quickening, realizing how little time they still had left. If Mephiles was right, they still had until sundown tomorrow, but that wasn't much time. Blaze stood with him.

"The Iblis Trigger's real name is Sonic," he said quickly. "He's fast, but not a strong fighter. He hangs around with another hedgehog named Amy, and I know she's looking for him. And he's fighting someone named Dr. Eggman, who attacked the city and kidnapped their princess."

Blaze raised an eyebrow. "It sounds like you've been busy. I was, uh, mostly lost this whole time."

He ignored her embarrassment, knowing she'd prefer it that way, and instead said, "So since he's after Eggman, let's sneak into his base. Maybe we'll learn something new."

Blaze nodded and turned, leading the way away from the docks. "Well then, let's get going. And hope that we can find this base soon."

* * *

The arrow led Sonic and his friends to the mountain that Castle Town and New City nestled against, that the train led through - the White Acropolis, it was called. It only continued to point directly at it as they walked, even though Sonic kept expecting it to change direction, lead them somewhere new, a roundabout path to the top. As they walked, Sonic related the story of Silver's attack and Elise's recapture.

He was just beginning to wonder if Eggman had really sent them a compass that would just force them to climb their way to the top anyway, when Knuckles peered down an alley at his side and stopped.

"Hey, guys," he said. "Think I found what we were looking for."

Sonic and Tails stepped up behind him to see that they alley connected directly to the rocky cliff face, and in the side of it, a tunnel appeared to have been carved. It only took a glance down at the arrow to confirm that it was pointing directly into the alley.

"Well, don't think we need this anymore," Sonic said, tossing the computer pad playfully at Knuckles. Tails stifled a snort as Knuckles missed the catch and the pad went clattering to the ground. Looking vaguely embarrassed, Knuckles made sure to step on it and grind it into the pavement as he walked forward, a satisfying crunching noise heralding its destruction.

The tunnel was rocky for a few feet, but quickly changed to smooth metal, taking a sharp turn at the end into a small room with a large computer set against the opposite wall. It looked like some kind of lab, with desks and chairs against the other walls and a strange circuitry-laden circle set into the ground.

"It's some kind of… teleporter, I think," Tails said, stepping forward. Sonic and Knuckles stayed back, recognizing a master at work. He moved to the computer, pulled up a chair to reach the console, and began tapping away. A few seconds later he nodded and turned back to them.

"Yep. Teleporter. Told ya."

Knuckles folded his arms. "And I assume it leads directly into Eggman's base?"

"Well," Tails said, turning back, "it looks to me like the coordinates are set nearby, about halfway between Castle Town and New City. That's where the White Acropolis is - so, yeah, safe bet."

"Then let's get this baby working," Sonic said, stepping forward.

"It's already primed. I think it must have been used recently…."

Knuckles frowned, stepping up next to Sonic in the middle of the circle on the ground. "That's weird, don't you think?"

"Yeah," Tails said, hopping off his chair and coming to stand with the other two, "but considering we're knowingly walking into a trap anyway, we probably don't have anything else to worry about other than the standard… trap… stuff."

Sonic chuckled.

"It's initialized," Tails said, and around their feet the edges of the circle began to light up. "I'd say brace yourselves. This technology looks a bit… outdated."

Sonic took a deep breath as a strange sensation spread over him, like dissolving, and after a few seconds, the room disappeared into brightness only to be replaced by a different room - similar in that there was another circle inscribed on the floor, but looking distinctly more military. The console nearby was merely a keypad, no display, and the room was otherwise mostly bare.

"This must be it," Tails said, stepping off.

Beyond the room they had landed in lay another hallway similar to the one they'd left behind in the New City, with a doorway leading out into the open. Sonic shivered as they stepped out and a rush of bitingly cold air hit him - the ground was covered in snow, and the sky was by now truly dark.

"Pretty cold place for a base," he said.

They had emerged into what looked like some sort of helicopter landing area, huge and open. Sonic raised an eyebrow at at signs of some kind of scuffle in the snow, which apparently hadn't been otherwise disturbed since - large gashes were cut into the ground, snow tossed around, and there was a huge dent in one of the surrounding walls, but the snow looked stiff, as though this had happened at the very least several hours ago.

"Wonder what happened _here?"_ Knuckles said in a low tone.

"And no greeting party, either." Sonic scanned the skies, their surroundings, but everything looked empty and dead, as though the place was abandoned. It gave him a distinctly creepy feeling.

"Called it," Tails said. "Everything about this smells like a - "

" - trap, I know," Sonic finished. "But we're going in anyway."

* * *

It didn't take long, walking the city's streets, for a strange feeling to come over Blaze.

Everything felt too… familiar. She and Silver had never been here, not in this world, not in this time, but as they turned corner after corner, a distinct sense of déjà vu began to sweep through her. Her tail began to twitch, then lash in earnest, until finally Silver gave her a sidelong glance.

"What is it?" he said. "You're, uh, a bit agitated."

"I know this place," she muttered. He raised an eyebrow.

"Come again?"

"I _know_ this place." She turned to face him fully. "Don't you?"

He just stared blankly.

"This… this has to be it. The city ruins. This is where we spent all our time, fighting Iblis, looking for a way to beat him. This is _it._ What it looked like in the past."

Silver's eyes went wide, and he stared around with a dawning look of both wonder and horror. "That," he said after a moment, pointing at a nearby skyscraper. "That's where we stayed that one night, when the phoenix hit me with the fireball… right up there, in one of the old offices." He touched the scar on his shoulder, a long-lasting reminder of that incident, and almost seemed to wilt. "Oh, oh man…."

 _"And,"_ Blaze said, her ears flattening slightly as an idea came to her, "that's our ticket into the base."

"What do you mean…?"

She started down the street at a quick pace, Silver stumbling slightly behind her to keep up. "Don't you remember? When our benefactor showed us the past, he took us to a lab at the edge of the city. 'In the past, this room held a working teleporter. It led to the military base on the mountain nearby.' He was showing us our way in, and he didn't even know…."

Blaze heard Silver gasp behind her, and his pace quickened with excitement. "You think that's his base?"

"Whose else could it be? It's our best shot."

"And you remember the way?"

"I think so," she said, turning another corner, trying to remember how the area had looked in their time, matching it up with what she saw in front of her now. A shattered storefront in her time, scorched almost beyond recognition, turned out to be a classy café in this time… a line of burned out husks of card then, a busy street now… a gap leading to the lava pits below, now a dusty sidewalk….

Her ears twitched, sensing openness to her right, and her head swiveled - an alley, with a tunnel at the end.

"Here."

With one last glance at each other, Blaze and Silver started down the alley, toward the room that had started this all for them.

* * *

 ** _White Acropolis Base, night_**

The base was eerily silent and empty as Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles made their way to the center. Robots stood at the ready at every doorway, but none attacked unless they got too close - otherwise, they simply stood in their groups, silently watching. Searchlights littered their path, sweeping great bright circles of light over the snow, and several caught the trio in their beams, but nothing happened. Despite his anticipation of some kind of ambush, it still sent shivers up Sonic's spine.

The trek to the base's center wasn't long. The base itself seemed to be leading them there - some doors were shut tight, blocking the way, while others were left conspicuously open. They passed through one, then another, and another, the empty base full of what looked like abandoned GUN equipment and vehicles. Knuckles had just begun to mutter "I don't like this" as they passed into yet another open area when the thud of a door slamming shut behind them made Sonic halt.

A searchlight stood in the center of the area, trained on them, alarms wailing. From over the high wall, mechs descended - standard white ones with guns and cannons, larger hulking ones, rolling crab-like ones, what looks like just about every new model of mech Eggman had designed. Sonic cracked his knuckles as the mechs formed up around them, guns locked, and heard Tails and Knuckles getting ready behind him.

"Told ya it was a trap," Tails said.

"We never doubted you for a second, buddy." Sonic grinned and dug the heels of his shoes into the backed snow behind him. "Now let's get started."

They fought like a well-oiled machine - they'd faced worse odds than this, and despite the robots' numbers, they knew how to fight together. Sonic realized quickly that the majority were targeting him, presumably seeking the Chaos Emerald that Eggman so dearly wanted, so he decided to make a target of himself, running around the robots and luring them in close enough that Knuckles could take them down with a vicious punch, or Tails could lob one of his ring bombs into the center of a group. He gritted his teeth as the activity put some strain on his injury, but he didn't feel any more blood, and soon the last robot lay in pieces at his feet, Knuckles dusting his hands together in satisfaction at his side.

"The doc always _was_ bad at ambushes," Sonic said, giving Tails a lopsided smile. Tails rolled his eyes.

"All right, all right. I guess that wasn't so bad."

Sonic glanced across the way, where he could see a locked door that could only lead to the base's main center of operations. "Think you can get that open?"

Tails began to jog to it, Sonic and Knuckles following behind. "Definitely." He slid open a panel next to the door and began tapping. Knuckles stretched.

"That was nice," he said. "You two've been holding me back from all the action around here ever since the festival. Good to cut loose."

"Sorry, Knux," Sonic said as Tails stepped back and the door slipped open. "Now that we know what he's after, we'll start bringing ya along for all the adventures."

The corridor beyond was dimly lit, but Sonic could see a light emanating somewhere from the end. He led the way down, their footsteps clanking on the metal beneath their soles as they made their way inside.

"Eggman's probably holding Elise in some kind of cell or prison," he said as they walked. "This looks like an old military base, they always have stuff like that. Just gotta find it."

"At least Eggman's not trying to blow the place up this time," Tails whispered.

The light up ahead came from a circular room that, from the entrance looked completely barren. They emerged into the center, and it didn't take long for Sonic to glance upward and find Eggman smirking down at him from a raised alcove in the wall. Consoles blinked behind him, and a wall of glass separated him from the trio.

"You're late," he said.

Knuckles' head snapped up and he glared. "Well, we had to deal with your little _pets,"_ he said, waving a hand dismissively. "Some ambush."

"Where's Elise?" Sonic said.

Eggman snorted, making his mustache quiver. "My, aren't we impatient." He reached to his left and casually pressed a button, then stepped to the side.

Sonic heard the sound of machinery working, saw something rising up from the floor next to the doctor - and his spines bristled as he realized what it was.

Elise, sitting in a chair, strapped by her wrists to the armrests, looking around wildly as her ride came to a stop level with the upper floor. Her eyes fixed on Sonic's and widened. Even when she'd been in his arms, bullets whizzing inches past them as he ran sideways fifty feet above the ground, he'd never seen her look so scared.

"Sonic!" she cried, her voice muffled by the glass.

Instantly he was tense, ready to spring, ready to shatter the glass and break her restraints and kick Eggman hard enough to crack whatever shell he kept his cold, dead heart locked up inside, and he felt his friends do the same beside him. Eggman just lowered his brow dangerous, his finger hovering over a second button.

"Ah, ah," he said, all trace of humor gone from his voice. "You'd better not move, or your princess might get a nasty shock. I think you'll find I'm in no mood to play around this time."

Sonic froze in place.

"Now - the Chaos Emerald."

Sonic slowly reached behind him, pulling the blue emerald out, the same one Elise had thrown to him the night of the festival. He held it up, his eyes never leaving Eggman's shaded glasses.

"Place it there."

A small round pedestal rose from the floor beneath Sonic's feet, an indent in the top, just big enough to hold the emerald. His eyes flicked from Eggman's finger, hovering over the button, to Elise, shaking her head vehemently at him, and back to Eggman.

He stepped forward, placed the emerald in the indent. A cap slid over it as soon as his fingers left its surface, hiding it from view, and the pedestal retracted back into the floor, sliding smoothly back into place, it's edges hardly even discernible from the rest of the metal plating around it.

"There," he said, heart pounding. "You've got your jewelry. Now let her go."

Eggman just grinned widely, and an unpleasant feeling spread through Sonic's stomach.

Then he slammed his finger down on the button.

 _"No!"_ Sonic screamed, but Elise only flinched as if startled, not hut - and a pinkish energy barrier appeared instantly, surrounding Sonic and the others in a circle in the center of the room, trapping them. A loud buzzing noise reverberated through his head, making it hard to think. Knuckles' eyes widened at his side, and Sonic watched as he directed a solid punch at the barrier only to stumble back with a pained cry, shaking his hand as if burned. The edge of his mitt was scorched from the contact.

"It's no use," Eggman said, sounding positively mad with glee. "It's far too powerful for you to overcome."

 _Tails was right -_ too _right - the ambush was just a diversion, and the trap…._

"Now allow me to introduce you to my latest invention! This is the Solaris Prototype."

At his words, Elise's eyes grew huge, and she began to strain uselessly against the cuffs holding her in place. _"No!"_ she screamed. "No, let them go, whatever you're doing, whatever that thing is _don't use it - "_

She was panicking, near hysterics, and even though Sonic felt like panicking too, not knowing what Eggman was about to do to them, he called up to her. "Elise! Elise, listen to me! It's going to be okay, we're all going to be okay, just hang tight - "

Then Eggman's hand closed around a lever and he pulled, and a burning pain spread across Sonic's body - he yelped as the sensation spread from his skin all the way to his core, gasping for air, feeling as though his entire body was melting, separating, leaving nothing behind -

\- and then everything was gone.

* * *

Elise sat in place, transfixed with horror, breathing heavily. Her wrists hurt from the cuffs, but she continued to mindlessly pull at them, unable to process what she had just seen.

Sonic, his friends, melting into thin air, vanishing as though they'd never existed, just _gone…._

"Ahh, my dear princess," came Eggman's voice from her right, and she vaguely registered the cuffs sliding away, leaving her suddenly free. "You played your part beautifully. They fell right into my trap."

 _No…._

She'd been the bait, never at any true risk of harm, and now the others…. Elise felt herself sliding out of the chair, falling to the floor on her knees and pressing her hands up against the glass. The room beyond was empty, empty….

"What did you do to them…?" she breathed, her voice sounding far away to her own ears.

"Oh, rest assured, they're not dead."

In spite of herself, her heart fluttered with hope.

"Yet."

She heard the clack of Eggman's boots on the metal floor behind her as he came up to stare out the glass with her, as if they were friends looking together upon some beautiful landscape beyond. His eyes shone behind his glasses. "They've just been teleported by my glorious invention to another time." Malicious glee filled his voice. "Who knows where they'll end up? It could be the distant past, or far future…."

Cold, sick dread washed through Elise.

"But," he continued, eyeing her where she sat, "my machine still requires some fine-tuning, as you can imagine. In fact, what my machine needs in order to be complete is _your_ power."

The heat stirred faintly in Elise's chest once more, and a memory flashed in front of her eyes, of the shield of flame appearing around her and Sonic in the desert, protecting them from harm. "My power," she said carefully, avoiding his gaze.

"Yes," he said giving her a smile that was perhaps supposed to be mock-fatherly but only sent chills down Elise's spine. "I can finally complete my plans, once I have all the Chaos Emeralds… and you, the princess of Soleanna. That's all I need to revive the Flames of Disaster."

Elise swallowed, trying to extinguish the heat in her core.

"And with their power, I will be able to control everything - everything you see around you, everything in this world." He stepped closer to her, and she leaned away. "So you would be wise to remain on my good side."

Elise's head turned slightly at the sound of a door sliding open behind them.

"Doctor," said a metallic voice. "We have additional intruders on the outside of the base, making their way further in. A Mobian hedgehog and cat."

"Hmm?" Eggman said, and Elise turned to see a pair of robots standing in the doorway out of the control room, Eggman glaring at them. "Well, that's just annoying. I suppose I can test my backup security guard against them with my new emerald…."

He turned back to Elise, who only stared at him dully, steeling herself. "Why don't you two escort our guest here to some more comfortable quarters in the basement? I'm sure she'll find them more than suitable for her royal tastes."

Elise ignored him, beginning to numb herself as she always had, walling her emotions away, becoming a shell until she was able to process what she'd seen. But this time she found a crack in her own defenses, and something she hadn't felt in a long time was shining through.

Hope.

The robots seized her arms and hauled her up as Eggman walked out of the room, but Elise only continued to stare out at the empty room behind the glass as they began to lead her away. Words were echoing through her head, but this time, they did not tell her not to cry.

 _"Nothing starts until you take action."_

Sonic and the others were gone, lost in the streams of time, and for the moment, here in the present, Elise was alone. She would have to do something. Whatever happened, Eggman couldn't win.

This time, instead of hardening her heart, she hardened her resolve.

* * *

 ** _Unknown location_**

It didn't take much exploratory walking for Shadow and Rouge to figure out that they were in some kind of long-abandoned, ruined facility high up on a hill. Shadow's original concern had been the idea of being transported somewhere against his will, having had far too much of the like happen to him in the past, but the eerie emptiness and quiet of the pace began to get to him within minutes. All around him, there was nothing but the empty howling of the wind, no signs of life anywhere, and the air was perpetually, strangely hot, as though he and Rouge had been dropped into an oven.

He found himself glancing over his shoulder more than once, even though there was never anyone else there.

Shadow was content to follow Rouge's instincts, which within only minutes of walking led them to what seemed to be the innermost building of the facility. He couldn't help feeling a strange prickle of déjà vu as they entered the building through a large hole torn in the side of it, as though it had been ripped into by some strange vicious beast. But he had never been here before… unless he _had,_ and his memory of the incident was simply missing.

Shadow grimaced at the thought.

"Ahh, finally," Rouge said, rounding a corner and stepping over a metal door lying off its hinges into a room lined with what looked like ancient computer consoles. Most were dead, but Rouge stepped up to the only one that still appeared live, bringing it to life after a few moments of tinkering and swearing. Shadow had a look around the rest of the room as she worked - the opposite wall appeared to have once held a large window looking out onto a larger, sunken circular room beyond, perhaps some sort of scientific testing chamber, but the glass had long since been shattered, and the room was dark, stained from what looked like decades of abandonment at least.

"What happened to this place?" he wondered aloud, stepping back over to Rouge, who had just gotten a small monitor to flicker to life above the console.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out," she said, straightening up and beginning to type. "Didn't look to me like there were any locals around to ask, anyway."

Her typing mostly looked like nonsense to Shadow, and he merely stood, folding his arms and watching her at work. After a few moments the screen lit up further and she gave a small grunt of satisfaction. "Got it. Okay, let's see… location data…."

She froze, staring at the screen.

"Shadow?" she said quietly.

He looked too. The same map of Soleanna that had been displayed on the screen of the teleporter room was on this screen as well… and their location, marked clearly as a dot near the coastline, was listed as….

"White Acropolis?"

"We're still in the doctor's base," Rouge said in disbelief. "But the landscape - the city…."

She refreshed, and refreshed again, and still their location remained constant.

A disturbing idea began to nag at the back of Shadow's mind, staring at the little red dot on the screen. "So then it's not _where_ we are…."

She glanced at him, then slowly moved her fingers back to the keyboard and brought up another window - the system's internal date and time mechanism. Her hand flew to her mouth at the sight, and Shadow stepped closer, uncrossing his arms, staring at the screen, the tiny letters and numbers that told them everything they needed to know.

 _4216.11.23 11:42am_

"It appears we've been sent through time, doesn't it?" Shadow said softly.

Rouge looked over at him, lowering her hand from her mouth and regaining her composure somewhat. "Yes," she said, turning back to the console and maneuvering away from the date/time screen as though the sight of it stung her. "Approximately two hundred years. Maybe more, depending on when this database was last updated. I doubt Eggman's still around by now to keep it running."

It wasn't the first time Shadow had found himself in an unfamiliar future against his will, but this time, it was significantly more problematic. Fifty years in stasis hadn't been enough to bring about the end of the world, but apparently two hundred years had been. Unpleasant thoughts began to form in the back of his mind and he resolutely pushed them back, determined to focus on the task at hand - whatever that might be from here.

"Well," Rouge said, shutting the screen down and leaning back against the console a little too casually, "at least we know we've arrived in the future. That means this Mephiles character has the power to control time - along with his creepy shapeshifting, apparently."

Shadow nodded and leaned with her, staring through the shattered glass to the opposite wall of the room beyond and thinking. "His power felt very similar to my own Chaos Control," he mused. "But…."

A strange noise cut him off, like some kind of electrical shock, coming from the room beyond the shattered window. Rouge grabbed his wrist immediately and pulled him to the side, crouching with him in the corner of the room. Her hand went to the nearly empty bomb satchel at her hip, and Shadow merely knelt, ears straining to hear what was happening beyond, unsure of what they might find in this strange new world, ready to fight if it was unfriendly.

A faint pinkish light flashed in the other room, followed by wild yelling, and several loud thuds. A few seconds of silence - and then a voice, the last one he would have expected to hear in a place like this.

"Boy, do I feel dizzy…." The voice was rather high pitched, prepubescent, and he and Rouge exchanged a glance. Her eyes had lit up slightly, and she stood, beckoning him to follow, her heels making distinctive clicks on the metal beneath her.

"Where are we?" said a different, rougher voice, and Shadow reached the edge of the upper room with Rouge to see three familiar forms on the ground of the circular room beyond, picking themselves up off the floor and looking around in bemusement.

"Oh," Rouge said loud enough for them to hear, and as one, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles all spun to stare up at her, standing with a hand on her hip, smiling down at them. "Look who's here! I didn't expect to see you guys in a place like this."

"R-Rouge?" Knuckles said, his cheeks going faintly pink.

"And the faker himself!" Sonic grinned up at them, dusting himself off. "Nice to see you two around."

"Hi," Rouge said pleasantly. "Long time no see."

Shadow merely stood silently and regarded them. Of all the people he might have wanted to encounter in the post-apocalypse, he couldn't say he would have wanted it to be them - though it wasn't out of dislike. They almost seemed too bright, too vibrant for a place like this. He didn't know how they might react to the view of the outside, once they exited the base.

So he merely nodded down at them, avoiding Sonic's gaze as he stared back expectantly. "We have a lot to discuss."


	10. Chapter 10

**_White Acropolis base, night_**

The mountain base was colder than anything Silver had felt in his life. He'd heard of snow, but only in stories - cold, white, frozen water, covering the ground, falling in delicate flakes from the sky. In his time, he hadn't quite believed it existed, or at least that it wasn't as shockingly cold as people described it, but now he shivered uncontrollably as he and Blaze ran, making their way to the center of the base.

Unlike him, Blaze hardly seemed perturbed. Silver supposed her innate flames must keep her warm, but it was rather poor consolation when the freezing air almost made him wish for a nice pool of post-apocalyptic lava to keep him warm.

He knew their quarry must have already been here - every so often, amidst the intact groups of robots that attacked them as they passed, they found one or two tipped over on the ground, already smashed to bits. Certain doors had also been left open, giving them a clear path through the base. Searchlights swept over the more open areas, and despite their best efforts at evasion, more than once he or Blaze stumbled into a circle of light, causing alarms to wail over the mountainside.

Silver found Eggman's mechs fairly easy to dismantle through creative applications of psychokinetic bursts along with random cargo and parts that littered the base, while Blaze focused on heating them from the inside out, sending red-hot bits of shrapnel exploding in all directions whenever she took one down. She ran ahead often, and he suspected that she was quietly glad to be in this world, fighting creatures that weren't made of flame and rock. It made her powers a lot more useful and versatile.

Silver was just beginning to wonder when they would reach the center of the base, certain that was where they'd find Sonic, when abruptly every searchlight shut off, and the alarms went dead silent.

Blaze froze just ahead of him, tense, ears swiveling.

For a long minute, they stood where they were, listening, hoping for an explanation. The anticipation was almost too much to bear. Slowly, he crept up to where Blaze stood, and together they watched and waited - this sudden silence had to mean something.

"I think we arrived a little too late," he whispered to Blaze.

Then he felt a rumbling, traveling through the ground and packed snow beneath his feet. Movement caught his eye, and as one he and Blaze turned to watch as the roof of a nearby building slid open and _something_ began to emerge from the top, rising into the air… something massive.

"This doesn't look good," Blaze said softly as red light began to reflect in her amber eyes.

The thing that had emerged was clearly some kind of mechanical contraption, far more advanced that anything Silver was used to seeing, with a round central body and four arms that extended from its sides, as well as things that resembled searchlights but for their harsh red glare. The machine floated off the ground without any visible means of propulsion, and Silver found himself taking an involuntary step back as the red lights swiveled to fix on him and Blaze. He felt as if he'd just been fixed in the eye of a dangerous beast.

The arms folded down, making the contraption look like a giant, oddly vicious table, and compartments opened on the side of the arm facing them. Silver stared in frozen fascination until he felt Blaze tugging at his arm, pulling him to encourage him to start running.

"Those are damn _missiles!"_ she hissed as he stumbled in her grip, running back the way they'd come.

A few seconds later, the blasts began - heating up Silver's heels and scattering sprays of half-melting snow over them as the missiles impacted the ground just behind them. Silver wasn't fast - Blaze could outrun the danger easily, but he wasn't so sure he could.

The heat at his heels stopped as the barrage ended, but Silver could still hear the noise of the thing's engines as it followed them, chasing them through the base back the way they'd come. He gasped and stumbled again as they rounded a corner and a group of mechs they'd missed saw them and began shooting, bullets whizzing past their heads.

Blaze clenched the fist that wasn't holding onto Silver's wrist as they ran, and several of the mechs exploded in a shower of hot, flaming metal - then she let out a yelp of shock as the rest were cut by a red laser coming from behind, extending from the machine chasing them, cutting hissing lines of steam through the snow as it swept the area in an attempt to hit her and Silver.

"Wait!" Silver yelled, realizing she was leading them back to the teleporter room as the laser finally dissipated and they continued to run. "Shouldn't we at least try to find Sonic in here somewhere?"

"We're no match for that thing - if we're lucky, Eggman killed him for us!" Blaze pulled him around another corner. "And we can't decide our next maneuver if we're lying dead on some mountain!"

There was a kernel of truth in her words, but as Silver heard the sound of the machine's arms lowering once more, a crazy idea popped into his head.

He wrenched his wrist from Blaze's grip and skidded to a halt, spinning to face the contraption, breathing heavily. "Silver!" Blaze yelled behind him, but he ignored her, stretching his hand forward and concentrating as the machine swiveled and compartments on the second arm opened. His body lit up with the familiar glow, and the line of missiles sped toward him - he pressed forward hard with his mind, envisioning himself grabbing them, turning them around….

One by one the glow enveloped the missiles, and for one second he stood in place, a cloud of missiles floating in front of his face, still straining to break free and fly.

Then he turned his gaze back to the machine and thrust his hand forward, and the missiles went flying free, speeding back toward the machine full speed. A dozen missiles hit the arm joint dead on and exploded with a deafening boom, the shockwave enough to send Silver stumbling back even from here.

Then, to his amazement, he heard the sound of crunching and ripping metal, followed by the sight of the arm separating from the body of the machine entirely, taking a chunk of the body with it and sending the mass of broken parts plummeting into the snow. A second later, the entire machine wobbled, tilted, then followed its arm down, crashing into the ground below with a force that shook the entire base, lights shattering and winking off.

Stunned at his own victory, Silver just stood and stared at the mess of wires and metal plating lying in the snow only a few dozen feet from him - then jolted back to reality as more bullets flew past his face. More robots had converged on the scene, and the one closest to him burst into damaging flames as Blaze began her counterattack. Silver clenched his fist and began to turn, ready to join the fight, when some strange feeling seemed to pull at him and he paused.

A blue glint, there in the corner of his eye, just at the edge of the wreckage - a glimmering cobalt gem, lying in the snow on its side, entirely undamaged despite having apparently just fallen from the machine.

"Silver!" Blaze screamed again from behind him, setting another mech ablaze. "It's time to _go!"_

He took a breath, glanced back to the teleporter room so close by, and made his choice - scrambled forward, slipping on the snow, half-melted from the heat of the fires and machinery. His fingers closed tightly around the gem, and he straightened up and ran, beckoning to Blaze as he passed her. She abandoned the last few robots still standing and followed him back to the teleporter room, where she brushed past him at top speed as soon as they entered, lunging for the console.

"Stand there!" she said, pointing back to the circle, and a second later she leapt back to the center of it. Around them things began to light up, and outside, Silver heard the sound of alarms beginning to resume their wailing, robotic footsteps on snow, power returning to the rest of the base….

Then he sucked in a breath as his body dissolved, bright light obscured his vision - and then the room in Soleanna faded back into view, Blaze panting heavily at his side.

After a few shocked seconds of quiet, she blinked and shook herself, stretching in the sudden warmth of the city atmosphere. Silver fluffed up his own fur, enjoying the relief from the biting cold, until he felt Blaze's gaze fix on him.

"What were you _doing_ back there?" she snapped, though she sounded more concerned than angry. "Why did you run back _towards_ it? You'd already taken it down!"

Silver glanced down at his own hand, still gripping the gem tightly, and held it up, letting it rest flat on his palm. Blaze stared, her eyes widening, and stepped closer.

"That's a Chaos Emerald," she breathed, reaching for it. He let her take it, and she held the jewel up, studying it. "Like the one Mephiles had, the one he used to give us the vision of the Iblis Trigger."

Silver hadn't realized it before, in the chaos of the fight, but she was right - it almost seemed to pulse with power, the only visual difference from Mephiles' emerald being the color, deep blue rather than purple. He could feel some strange kind of energy vibrating from it - almost like a buzz at the back of his mind, not irritating and not soothing, but something else - something he couldn't quite describe.

"It's said a Chaos Emerald can transform your thoughts into power," Blaze said, turning the gem around and lighting the tip of one finger, letting the flames sparkle against its smooth reflective surface. Silver stood entranced by the sight. "There are seven in the world, and if you collect them all, a miracle's supposed to happen."

Her finger extinguished, and she placed the gem carefully back into Silver's palm.

"Are the stories true?" Silver said, staring into its depths.

"I don't know, but now that we have it, there's no sense in discarding it." Blaze adjusted her coat on her shoulders and stepped off the transporter circle. "Keep it as a lucky charm, if nothing else."

He glanced over at her. She was surveying the room, which contained several rather comfortable-looking chairs and not much else. "I say we spend the night here," she went on. "We need rest, it's out of sight, and if the Iblis Trigger does come back out of that base, we'll be ready."

Silver nodded and settled into a chair nearby, Blaze doing the same on the other side of the room, and looked down again at the emerald, glimmering in his hand. "It transforms your thoughts into power," he murmured to himself.

Wasn't that already what he did with his psychokinesis - use his mind to control his own powers? His father had never explained the logic behind his abilities, but perhaps he simply hadn't known. Were his powers somehow connected to the emeralds? Had the emerald perhaps been calling to him from the machine itself, giving him the idea to use its own weapon against it…?

Silver shook his head and tucked the emerald away safely. He was being ridiculous - he was probably like Blaze, just some random Mobian who happened to be born with powers, unusual but not unheard of. Whatever the cause, it had allowed him to fight for his world, and it had gotten him here. But he still couldn't help tracing the patterns on his gloves as he sat sleepless, thinking, thinking….

* * *

 ** _Meanwhile, inside the White Acropolis Base_**

Amy Rose tiptoed carefully through the hallways of the inner base structure, her boots making almost no noise on the metal floor. She'd been tailing Silver ever since his attempt on Sonic's life - at this point, Sonic probably didn't need a third bodyguard, what with Tails and Knuckles tagging along, but she figured it might be best to keep an eye on Silver anyway. She'd watched as he met up with the friend he'd mentioned to her that morning, Blaze was her name if she remembered correctly, and they'd strode through the city straight into a hidden room off in a back alley. Amy had found herself following them directly through a teleporter and straight into Eggman's base at the top of the mountain.

Sneaking into one of Eggman's secure bases might once have been far out of her skillset, but by now, Amy was a master. She'd remained carefully out of sight, so stealthy she suspected she might have rivaled Rouge herself (she made a note of that for later), and taken back paths, finding creative ways over walls that she figured no enemy would suspect, and it served her well. By the time the power went out over the entire base, she'd been inside the central hub, and found herself with ample time to explore.

Amy wasn't even completely sure what she was looking for at this point - Silver and Blaze, Sonic, or even Eggman herself. But something kept her there. Her gut was rarely wrong, and she had a feeling there was something worth her time in this base.

She sucked in a breath and ducked behind a wall as a regiment of battle-outfitted mechs like the ones she and Silver had fought earlier at the city gates turned into the hallway, and remained still and silent until the clanking of metal feet faded into the distance. She was just beginning to think that maybe she'd been wrong after all, maybe she should just leave, when the sound of a door flying open behind her made her nearly jump out of her skin.

Amy whipped around, hammer in hand, ready for a fight, and then blinked. Standing in the doorway, looking shocked and scared, was a human girl - pale-skinned, auburn-haired, in a dress that had once been a rich white embroidered with silver thread but which was now covered in grass and dirt stains, torn along the hem. Her hand flew to her mouth at the sight of Amy, and she stumbled back a few steps, back through the door she'd just opened.

Amy's eyes flicked up to the sign above the door - "Detention Block."

A red light began flashing overhead, and alarms began to wail across the entire base, the sound piercing in Amy's ears. "Prisoner has escaped from cell block C-17," a cool automated voice said from the intercoms. "All patrolling guards, begin searching immediately."

This girl _had_ to be the escaped prisoner - why else would she be here? Amy lowered her hammer, the girl watching her warily, but Amy only extended a hand.

"Are there any others?" she said in a stage whisper, just loud enough to be heard above the alarms.

"W-what?"

"Others! Are there others we need to rescue, or are you the only one?"

"Oh! Um - I think I'm the only one, I haven't seen anyone else alive - I-I mean, non-robotic…."

Amy shook her outstretched hand somewhat impatiently at the girl. "Then come on! We need to get out of here now!"

"O-okay."

The girl reached out and grabbed Amy's hand, and Amy turned and began to run down the hallway, the girl running behind her, Amy hoping that whatever happened, she and the girl could make it across the base and back to the teleporter in time.

* * *

 ** _Soleanna teleporter room_**

Silver and Blaze had hardly been resting for half an hour, if that, when the teleporter circle lit up between them.

His eyes widened, and he saw Blaze's do the same across the way. As a column of light extended from floor to ceiling, briefly obscuring his view of the other side of the room, he leapt to his feet and forced his mind to focus, left hand extending to his side to grab a desk or chair to throw at Sonic if he was indeed coming through, ready for a fight.

He blinked as the light faded, and a distinct sinking feeling of dread ran through him when he saw who it was - not Sonic, but of all people, Amy and the princess, the latter shivering with cold, the former's eyes flying wide as she realized who else was in the room.

 _"You!"_ she hissed, stepping immediately in front of the princess, who backed away at the sight of him.

Silver swallowed and glanced at Blaze, whose ears were flat against her head. "Uh, Blaze," he said awkwardly. "Meet Amy Rose. And, uh, the princess of this country."

"Princess?" Amy, who had once again produced her hammer from thin air, let her grip go slightly slack and glanced back at the princess, who was looking some combination of nervous and embarrassed.

"Just call me Elise," she said, not taking her eyes off Silver's face.

"We're not interested in you or the princess," Blaze said to Amy, her voice even but tight. "So just leave. We're spending the night here and we're not welcoming guests."

 _"Guests?"_ Amy said, her voice becoming high with rage. "How do I know you're not waiting here to try and kill _more_ people just like your _boyfriend_ over there tried to do?"

Silver winced, blushed, tried to put that last comment out of his mind. Blaze didn't know yet just how fierce Amy was, and he'd rather her not have to find out firsthand. He stepped forward, hoping to head off the confrontation before things got physical, when Elise stepped out from behind Amy, still staring at Silver.

"Elise!" Amy said, looking alarmed, but the princess stood resolute. Silver regarded her warily, expecting a lecture from her as well, some kind of reprimand for his actions earlier.

"I know you."

Silver blinked.

"What?"

"I… I know you. I've seen you before." She swallowed and her hand went almost automatically to a pocket in the side of her dress, fumbling around in it even though from here it looked empty. "I met you ten years ago, the day that my…."

Silver just stared at her. Her face had gone oddly blank.

"Why did you try to kill Sonic?" she said softly. "You saved me before… I thought you were kind. I don't understand."

Blaze looked at him in bemusement, but Silver just shook his head. "I've never met you before," he said slowly. "Seen you… but never met you. You've gotta have me mistaken for someone else."

"We're not even from this place," Blaze said, the tip of her tail flicking back and forth in agitation. "How could we know you?"

Elise bit her lip, then muttered, "Maybe it was someone else then. I… need some air." She began to head for the door, looking almost numb, emotionless.

"Elise, wait!" Amy called after her, but Elise just kept walking. Amy turned back to Silver and Blaze, her eyes narrowed, fists clenched, and said, "You two better listen close. You're nothing but a couple of nasty murderers, and if you come _anywhere_ near my friends again there'll be _hell_ to pay! Got it?"

Blaze stared back, matching her fury with a quiet intensity of her own, and said, "We're not abandoning our mission, no matter what threats you might make."

"I've warned you!" Amy said through clenched teeth. "I guess we'll just see if you're smart enough to stay away."

A horribly, guilty feeling crept up Silver's legs and through the rest of his body, and as Amy turned to leave, he stepped forward, reaching for her wrist. "Hey - look, if you'll just wait a second I can ex-"

 _POW!_

Silver landed flat on his back as Amy's fist connected directly with his nose. He groaned and curled up on the floor, clutching his nose and vaguely registering the sound of boots stomping out of the room. A few seconds passed before the pain lessened enough that he could opened his eyes, and found Blaze staring down at him, one eyebrow raised.

"Don't tell me I deserved that," he muttered, accepting her offer of a hand up with the hand that wasn't currently occupied with his aching nose.

"I said nothing."

Silver sat down heavily in his chair once again and leaned forward, closing his eyes, wishing he could shut everything out and just sleep - not have to worry about the fate of the world, or the moral implications of his decisions, just be himself for once - whoever Silver the Hedgehog might be outside of an endless, fiery war.

"We still have to go through with it, Silver," Blaze said quietly. "No one said the path to saving the world would be easy."

Silver sighed and opened his eyes again, though he kept them fixed on the ground at his feet. "I know," he said. "But I sure didn't expect it to feel this damn awful."

They spent the rest of the night in silence, and despite his exhaustion, Silver couldn't fall into anything deeper than a doze, full of angry friends, fiery apocalypses, and deep, dark emptiness.

* * *

In the few hours of fear and chaos that had followed her recapture at the edge of Castle Town, Elise had almost forgotten the words Silver had yelled at Sonic during the attempt on his life.

 _Iblis Trigger._

Something about that phrase made her feel horrible, almost nauseous - she pushed it back firmly, but the crack in her defenses remained, letting it leak through, tainting her mental state. The same crack that had allowed her to find the strength to attempt an escape back at the base now put her in jeopardy, her emotions roiling just beneath the surface no matter how hard she tried to press them down, seal them away, _don't cry, don't cry, a strong queen never cries -_

"Elise?"

Elise started and remembered where she was. She'd exited the hallway beyond the teleporter room and found herself in what looked like a back alley of the New City, and now she turned to see Amy staring up at her with a look of concern on her face.

"I'm fine," she said automatically, rearranging her features into something that she hoped approximated a look of calm. It must have looked utterly bizarre, because Amy's mouth twisted and she took Elise's hand in her own, clasping it between her palms, staring up at her earnestly.

"Hey, I'm sorry about that back there," she said. "I didn't mean to get all angry and shouty in front of you. I didn't even realize you were the princess until Silver said something, but now I recognize you, from the festival…."

"Oh - yes."

"What exactly happened there, anyway? Once the robots started dropping in, people scattered too fast for me to get a good look."

"Um, well, a hedgehog named Sonic showed up, and - "

"Sonic?" Amy's eyes flew open. "Hey, that's my friend, the one I saved from Silver! You mentioned him before - I didn't realize you and he were friends too!"

"He rescued me from Eggman before, but every time I get away, Eggman just… captures me again." Elise felt a cold shiver run through her even in the warm summer air.

"Why?"

"He - he wants me for some kind of - plot - "

"Hey, it's okay," Amy said, and Elise realized that she was actually shaking. She forced herself to steady, but Amy only clasped her hand tighter in reassurance. "Sonic fights against Eggman all the time, and he always wins! In fact… I'd bet he was already on his way to rescue you. Guess I did his job for him this time!"

Amy beamed, and then she must have realized something was wrong by the look on Elise's face.

"Elise? Princess? What… what happened?"

Elise swallowed, the memory of Sonic and his friends melting away into thin air flashing in front of her eyes. "He - Eggman, he - he has a time machine, and he…."

Amy's face fell.

"He sent Sonic and his friends away through time. Even he doesn't know where they ended up."

 _Breathe, breathe, don't cry, stay calm damn it, don't cry._

Amy released Elise's hand and glanced down at the ground for a second, then looked back up. "Well, that's okay," she said, sounding significantly less upset than Elise would have expected. "He's done that before."

"Wh- really?"

"Yeah. It's how I met him, actually! I'd tell you the whole story, but basically, we ended up in this place where time is really weird, and he kept slipping forward and backward in time… he rescued me from Eggman back then as well. It's how I got inspired to learn how to fight and look after myself."

She smiled up at Elise, and in spite of herself, she couldn't deny that Amy had a knack for positivity.

"Don't worry, princess. If anyone can make it back in one piece, it's Sonic."

Elise smiled back - a small, thin smile, but a smile nonetheless.

"Now," Amy said, straightening her dress and looking suddenly businesslike, "I'd say we have to get you back to the castle, huh? That way the guards can look after you till we get this Eggman situation handled."

Elise opened her mouth to reply, when movement caught her eye. She turned her head and gasped - just at the end of the cross street, a band of Eggman's robots was approaching, metal feet clanking on the pavement. It looked like they had tracked her out of the base after all.

Amy had her hammer out in a flash. "Stay back, princess!" she said, sprinting forward. "I'll take care of them!"

Elise had seen that Amy was more than capable, but the sound of crunching metal as Amy slammed her hammer into the first robot still sent a jolt through her - she was still so unused to fighting and excitement. She stood where she was, transfixed by the sight, so transfixed in fact that she didn't hear the hum of the engines behind her until it was too late.

She let out a strangled cry as a familiar metal claw closed around her midsection, pinning her arms to her side, and she was yanked off the ground into the air. Her breath had been stolen by the shock, leaving her unable to yell to Amy for help - and she winced as the claw carried her high, the vehicle it was attached to rising away from the ground at a dizzying velocity.

"Hello again, princess," said a distressingly familiar voice behind her. "Thought you could just run off without me noticing, huh?"

Below her, Elise saw the exact moment Amy realized something had gone wrong - she spun away from the last of the mechs, crumpling to the ground in pieces, and her gaze snapped skyward when she saw that Elise was no longer where she'd left her. "Elise!" she screamed as the vehicle began to move away, taking them rapidly out of sight of the city streets. "No! _Elise!"_

"I already lost one prize tonight," Eggman said as Amy's screams faded into the night. "I'm not about to lose another. So I think it's time to take a little ride - what say you?"

Elise kept her mouth shut and numbed herself once more.


	11. Chapter 11

**_Ruined world, outside at the edge of the base_**

Nothing Shadow or Rouge said could have prepared Sonic for the gutpunch of witnessing what had become of the outside world.

It looked how Sonic imagined a place hit by a nuclear bomb might appear - everything seemed scorched, devoid of life both floral and faunal. The hillside the base stood on was completely barren, and worst of all, the city down the hill looked like nothing but a shell, the buildings empty and burned, long ago abandoned. A lid of dark clouds covered the sky, not a speck of blue to be seen, and the air was hot, far hotter than it should have been for summer.

"This is the distant future - far removed from our own timeline. Be prepared for what that means," Shadow had told Sonic and his friends before they left the interior of the base. But Sonic had always imagined the future to be filled with wondrous new technologies and thriving cities, not… _this._

He forced himself to swallow the nausea that had risen up in his stomach and turned back to the others, still staring out at the devastated landscape with looks of horror and dismay, and cocked his hip to one side.

"Eggman's got some nerve dropping us here," he said, putting a hand on his hip. Tails glanced at him and Sonic watched his fluffed-up fur flatten a little. _Good._ Sonic's nonchalant tone seemed to be reassuring him, even though inside Sonic felt just as disturbed by the sight.

"And that down there," Knuckles said, looking from the city back to Shadow and Rouge, who were simply watching the others' reactions, "that's Soleanna's New City? That's what - what's left of it?"

Shadow nodded, and Knuckles' gaze darkened. He kicked at a rock nearby, sending it flying down the slope, the clattering somewhat loud in the silent landscape.

"Wonderful. So how can we get back to our own timeline?"

Shadow's brow furrowed, and he stared for a moment out at the skyline. "I've never actually willingly time-traveled before, Knuckles."

Sonic shook his head. "C'mon, Shads," he said. "There's always a way outta a bad situation."

Shadow's gaze turned skyward for a fraction of a second, and Sonic realized what he was thinking of - Sonic's own escape from certain death a year ago, in the pod ejected from the Space Colony ARK.

He looked back to the group, expression unreadable, and said, "My guess would be we need a space-time rift, but creating one requires a lot of energy. You say the doctor's machine can control time, but clearly it's no longer functional, not in this timeline."

Rouge nodded. "Completely busted."

Sonic cocked his head at Shadow. "So are you saying that using your Chaos Control can…?"

Shadow folded his arms, his gaze unnervingly piercing as always. "Yes - but my abilities alone would be insufficient."

Sonic waited a few seconds for him to say it, but Shadow kept quiet, their eyes meeting in a battle of will. Finally, a smirk crossed Sonic's face, and he relented. "All right, Shadow. Looks like we're gonna have to work _together_ to make that happen."

Shadow nodded silently, and Sonic caught Rouge's eye - she was grinning too, though doing her best to hide it.

"Guess that means we need to find Chaos Emeralds, huh?" Knuckles said, breaking the moment. "In a future like this, would they even still exist?"

"Chaos Emeralds are powerful objects connected to this world and separate from time and space," Shadow said. "That's why they are so easily able to manipulate it. If they exist in the past, they exist here still."

"I think Knuckie's just worried _I'm_ gonna find them before he gets a chance to flex his treasure-hunting muscles." Rouge winked at Knuckles, whose face went beet red.

"I think _you're_ just worried _I'm_ a better treasure hunter than you," he said, glaring at her. She only continued to smile, unfazed. Sonic stifled a snort.

"Hey, guys," Tails said, and Sonic realized he'd been quiet this whole time. While the others had been talking, he appeared to have been tapping away at the small device on his wrist, normally hidden just beneath the cuff of his glove. "If we're looking for Chaos Emeralds, we're in luck. I'm getting a faint reading from the city down there - it's a bit weird, there's a lot of background interference, but there's definitely something powerful down there. It might do us good to check things out."

"Sounds good to me," Sonic said, already casting about for a fast way down the slope. He could always run, but that ran the risk of tripping and tumbling down the hillside painfully, not to mention the factor of Tails and Knuckles being able to keep up…. His eyes alit on a flat, partially rusted scrap of metal nearby, obviously having peeled off the base's outer wall from age and heat long ago. He grinned and strode over to pick it up.

"Sonic," Knuckles said, watching him with some amount of apprehension. "If you're doing what I think you're doing…."

Sonic twisted his upper body around to wink at Shadow, still standing in place with his arms folded, watching him. "Don't be late," he said, and dropped the scrap on the ground, placing his foot on it.

"Same to you," Shadow said behind him - then Sonic kicked off, sliding down the slope, whooping and hollering even as the city drew rapidly closer and the sheer amount of destruction became starkly apparent.

 _What happened here…?_

* * *

Shadow watched the others race off after Sonic, Tails lifting Knuckles in his hands and gliding down the slope in a hurry in the direction of the ruined city. After a moment he realized that Rouge was no longer at his side.

He turned to see her some ways away, sitting on the hood of a dusty, ash-covered vehicle he hadn't noticed previously, staring at him. The vehicle looked to be some sort of GUN buggy, an all-terrain model, open air and just the right size for a couple of Mobians - built for their use, clearly. Shadow paced up, looking it over.

"I heard about these in the past," Rouge said as he walked around the buggy, inspecting its state. "But they hadn't been developed yet. It was only recently that GUN started actively recruiting Mobians at all - that's why you don't see many of us around in the bases."

"This looks like it might still run," Shadow said. "We could use it to get down the slope more easily." He climbed into the driver's seat and began feeling around for a set of keys while Rouge twisted around to lie on her stomach, watching him at work.

"Flying not work for you, handsome?"

"I assume you don't want to carry me all the way down, and unless you've figured out a way to give me wings in short order, I don't think that's a viable option." Shadow rooted around in between the seats and came up with the keys he was looking for. He stuck them in the ignition and turned - and the engine sputtered to life, sending Rouge leaping into the air like a startled cat as the hood vibrated beneath her.

"Hey, you coulda warned a girl first." She flapped her wings and plopped herself into the seat next to him as Shadow found the gas and sent the vehicle rolling forward.

The slope was steep, but the buggy made things more tolerable. Skating might have been faster, but Shadow had to admit he enjoyed driving. If anything, it made this alien place just a little more comfortable for him, a bit less treacherous, a bit less unfamiliar. With Rouge sitting at his side, one arm out and staring out at the landscape, he could almost imagine they were on a simple mission for GUN out in the wilds of their own time. The feeling faded quickly, however, as he drove them closer to the city, and they got a good look at how much worse it appeared up close.

Every building was a mere empty shell, most windows shattered - even the concrete looked scorched. Shadow gritted his teeth at the sight and Rouge went somewhat quiet next to him. However, he didn't find himself truly caught off guard until they reached the city outskirts and he had to slam on the brakes to avoid rolling off a dropoff.

Shadow locked the brakes and he and Rouge hopped out, staring at the drop beneath them into the city.

"Looks like we won't be taking a drive along the old streets," Rouge said, leaning forward to see how far down it went.

Something was bothering Shadow, like an itching in his spines - something felt wrong about this place, now, but what could it be, _what is it what is this weird nagging at the back of my mind…._

Next to him, the buggy exploded.

Rouge leapt into the air to avoid the worst of the blast, but Shadow only had time to throw up a hand to shield his eyes. The sting of hot metal burning as it shattered and hit his arms and torso made him hiss in pain. He dropped his hand and stared into the inferno consuming the buggy - an inferno that was taking shape, forming a head, strange orange mandibles, a serpentine body of fire….

Heat erupted around him on all sides, and he whirled to see more of the fiery worms, at least three times taller than him, erupting from the ground, surrounding him, hissing and crackling malevolently, balls of molten rock and fire forming in each of their throats. Shadow bared his teeth and wasted no time, firing one Chaos spear straight into the mouth of one, dodging a fireball from another - and as he rolled back to his feet he suddenly found his wrists seized in a tight grip from above. For a split second he kicked in an automatic defense, then realized what was happening as the ground fell away from his feet, the monsters letting out distorted screeches as Rouge whisked him away high into the air.

He had barely opened his mouth to protest when she cut him off, eyes focused straight ahead. "Don't argue, if that's what you're thinking - we're here looking for a Chaos Emerald, not a fight. The last thing we need is to have you burning yourself into a coma before we get out of here."

Shadow considered this for a second, then nodded, dangling high above the ground by his wrists as he was. "Thank you."

"No problem, sweetheart." Rouge rose higher into the air, carried aloft by a draft of unexpectedly hot air, until she was level with the roof of a nearby skyscraper, still standing tall even despite the damage. She set Shadow down lightly on the roof and alighted next to him a moment later, and together they walked to the edge, studying the scene laid out in front of them. Shadow swallowed at the sight, and he heard Rouge's sharp intake of breath.

Staring out together at the deep, glowing pits of lava bubbling in the giant cracks running through the streets of the city, Rouge said softly, "I think we might have our first clue about just what kind of apocalypse this was."

* * *

"The whole _city's_ on fire!"

Sonic had surfed the slope into the city only to find himself plunged into utter chaos. Fires raged amidst the buildings, lava boiling in deep cracks separating chunks of the city from each other, and perhaps worst of all, the place was crawling with monsters - monsters made of smoke and fire and hot, melting rock, in the shape of phoenixes, lizards, giant worms.

He found out the hard way not to touch them when a simple homing attack left one of his spines scorched, the side burned off completely.

"Sonic!" he heard someone cry from behind him. Tails and Knuckles had managed to catch up, and together they stood in a line, facing down the monsters Sonic had tried to take on alone.

"You okay?" Knuckles said, glaring at the worm and the strange lizards accompanying it, which were hissing and sparking while the air around them shimmered with heat.

"I'm fine," Sonic said. "But we can't touch 'em directly unless we wanna get burned."

"Sounds like fun."

Sonic tapped the toe of his shoe against the rough pavement and charged the monsters again, this time aiming a kick at the worm's face. The soles of his shoes were built to withstand the friction generated by his speed, and he was hoping that was enough to prevent them melting on contact with the hot rock of the monsters' bodies.

 _Slam!_ With a screech, the worm crumpled and dissipated into nothing but smoke and flashes of fire, fading into the air around it. Sonic landed and whirled immediately - one of the lizards leapt at him, and on instinct he dropped to the ground, holding his body up with his hands on the ground behind him and kicking upward. His feet launched the thing over him entirely and sent it flying into a broken light post, where it too dissolved into nothingness.

Rings exploded to his other side, and Sonic turned in time to see the last lizard vanish, hit by one of Tails' Chaos bombs. Tails landed next to him, his eyes wide, as Knuckles strode up from further down the street where Sonic had left him. "What _were_ those things?" Tails said, his voice wavering slightly.

"I dunno, buddy," Sonic said. "But I have a feeling there's a lot more where those came from."

"This whole place is messed up," Knuckles muttered, glancing around. "I've never seen anything like it."

"I think we're gonna have to handle things a little different than we normally do," Sonic said. "I'll handle most of the fighting - looks like my shoes can handle the heat - but we should probably avoid those things whenever we can. Tails, you chip in with a bomb now and then, but you should stay up high, scout ahead, find us safe paths to take. And Knuckles, you're on emerald detail. Those are all we need to get outta this mess and go back home."

Knuckles nodded, though Sonic had a feeling he was a little bitter about being unable to properly fight.

"We just gotta stick together." Sonic flashed the others a smile, and Tails perked up just a little. "We've made it through tougher situations, right? No problem!"

"Sure," Tails said. "Like… when Chaos destroyed Station Square!"

"Yeah! Now let's get goin' - unless you want Shadow and Rouge to beat us to the punch, Knuckles."

"No way." Knuckles brushed past him, and Sonic grinned.

"That's what I like to hear."

* * *

Rouge was sweating profusely within a minute of entering the city limits. The heat was unbearably high, even this far above the lava pits. She and Shadow stayed mainly near the tops of the skyscrapers that still stood intact, Rouge scouting from overhead and giving Shadow a lift from building to building when needed, always keeping her eye out for the glimmer of Chaos Emeralds amidst the wreckage.

For the most part, she found herself following wherever Shadow led. She doubted he even realized it himself, but he seemed to be following a path, having some unconscious, intuitive sense of where the emeralds were, probably due to his own innate connection to Chaos energy. More than once she noticed him fiddling with the rings locked around his wrists as though they itched.

She tried to remain focused, staring around, keeping her eyes peeled, but something nagged at the back of her mind, and she finally found herself unable to keep quiet.

"Shadow," she said as she carried him, hands gripping his tightly as she flapped her way over a gap between two buildings, "I wanted to ask…."

"The wind is picking up," he said, dropping from her grip a few feet above the roof of the building and landing easily. Rouge frowned and landed next to him.

 _"Shadow,"_ she repeated, and his ears twitched as though uncomfortable. "Do you know anything about this Mephiles character?"

"No," he said, his voice somewhat tight, a tone she recognized. "I know nothing about him." He turned away from her, scanning the horizon.

Rouge stepped into the corner of his vision. "All right, big guy, just asking. He just… talked like he knew you. And well, he looked like you. It was more than a little creepy."

"Like looking in a mirror." Shadow's eyes were unfocusing - he was getting in one of his moods, faraway, brooding, mind full of jumbled thoughts and confusing noise. Rouge stepped closer, further into his line of sight, and he took a breath, appearing to calm somewhat.

"I've never seen him before," he said, his voice somewhat steadier. "But we know from this venture that he can control time, at least to some extent." He glanced over at her. "Perhaps I meet him for the first time in this timeline, or some other. We have no way of knowing at this point."

Rouge nodded and sighed. "Yeah. We should probably just focus on getting out of here."

Shadow opened his mouth, and then his eyes flicked past her and darkened. Rouge spin just as he drew back his hand, and watched at the phoenix that had been flapping up to her silently from behind was speared straight through the chest with a bolt of energy. It poofed away in a flash of smoke and Rouge coughed as the wind blew it back into her face.

"Hey, thanks, handsome," she said, turning back to him. That was when she realized the wind was still blowing. Shadow was right, it had been picking up a bit before, but now….

"I think we should get down," Shadow said, grabbing her hand. He began to pull her to the edge of the building, and that was when she saw it - the sight chilling her blood even as the heat and ash of the city caught in her throat.

A massive tornado, made not of air but of flame, tearing its way through the city, sucking up all manner of debris in its wake, heading this way….

A direct shot of adrenaline hit Rouge like an arrow to the heart, and she gasped for air, seizing Shadow's wrists in her grip once more and taking off like a shot, diving as soon as she'd cleared the edge of the roof. Shadow grunted in surprise, but she pulled up and managed to reverse course, shooting with him straight through a broken window and yanking him back from the opening as soon as her feet touched the ground.

He stumbled a little, but seemed to realize her intentions, backing up with her until they'd rounded a corner away from the window, the noise and heat picking up outside. They crouched on the floor against the wall, Rouge's ears straining to hear anything above the sheer cacophony from the tornado, ash and dust whipping through the building's interior and stinging her skin as the tornado passed the building by - and then Rouge noticed Shadow staring at the opposite wall, once again fiddling with his inhibitors.

Even despite their situation, a small smile crossed her face.

* * *

Sonic had grabbed Tails' and Knuckles' wrists, one in each hand, as soon as he'd seen the tornado coming their way. Both had made little noises of confusion, followed by yelps of shock as he took off, increasing speed as gradually as he dared, already gunning hard for Mach 1 once again. He hoped they could handle the acceleration - but they had to run.

He didn't want himself and his friends to end their existences in the flames of the apocalypse.

"Sonic!" Tails cried from behind him, his voice high, whether from fear or discomfort Sonic couldn't tell. And he couldn't answer, instead swerving crazily to avoid the flying, smashed debris of a car that had just inexplicably crashed from the sky into the pavement just in front of him. Breathing quickly, heavily, Sonic chanced a glance back - and what he saw made his eyes widen, pushing his speed even higher, almost to its limits.

"That tornado's carrying a _car!"_ he shouted above the deafening noise.

 _Smash!_ Another car, then another, then a chunk of debris, a pane of glass that shattered on impact, slicing a clean line along the top of his right shoe - not just one car, but dozens, everything in its path, every bit of loose debris in the area. Sonic glanced desperately from side to side, looking for somewhere else to turn, but by some awful stroke of fate, the tornado had caught them on a highway stretching along high above a pit of lava, devoid of curved, of escape routes.

So Sonic ran, and ran, and felt the boom as he crossed the speed of sound once again, and everything was smooth as he flew down the road faster than he ever had in his life, leaping over any debris that the tornado threw in his path, skidding to one side to collect the golden rings -

\- wait, _rings?_

He saw his chance flash by in a split second and took it - a highway exit, leading down into the cityscape, and skidded so hard the pavement smoked in his wake. Sonic collapsed to the ground just behind a building, choking and panting, Tails and Knuckles lying in a disheveled heap just behind him. On the highway they had just left, the tornado roared past, still flinging debris, but leaving them untouched from where they sat.

Knuckles coughed heavily and shook his head, disentangling himself from Tails. "Sonic," he said, his voice strained, "do not _ever_ do that again without warning me first."

"I second that," Tails said, brushing his fingers through his fur to remove any stray debris, "but I also have to admit, that was pretty exhilarating."

Sonic grinned at the pair of them. "Hey, see, Tails knows where it's at."

He got to his feet, the rings gone by now, their energy absorbed into his body. On a hunch he tugged Elise's handkerchief off his arm. The cloth was crusted with dried blood, but his arm looked almost back to normal, the rings working their magic and healing his injuries.

"Is that… a royal handkerchief?" Knuckles said, staring at it. "Elise gave that to you? Looks like you got hurt pretty bad."

"I doubt she's going to want it back in that state, Sonic," Tails said, getting to his feet and wrinkling his nose at the blood on it. Sonic frowned.

"Yeah, you're right. Seems wrong to just leave it behind here, though…."

He tucked it away on his person and glanced around. "There were rings back there. If I know anything, that means Chaos Emeralds, somewhere nearby. I think we're on the right track."

Tails fumbled with his watch, and his eyes lit up. "You're right! The reading is stronger here - I think there must be one within a few blocks, at most!"

Sonic and Knuckles exchanged a grin. "Good going, buddy," Sonic said.

Knuckles chuckled to himself. "Oh, I can't wait to see the look on Rouge's face when she realizes _we_ found it first…."

Tails muttered something, still staring at his device, then abruptly spun and began to follow whatever it was telling him. Knuckles shrugged and followed after him, with Sonic bringing up the rear, still a little on edge about more rogue fire tornadoes. Tails led them through the streets, turned a corner, going back the way they'd come while running, a scorched-looking cliff rising above them. They must be all the way back at the city limits, some distance east of where they'd started, if Sonic was reading his surroundings right.

Tails suddenly sucked in a breath and veered right, into an alley that gave Sonic the strangest case of déjà vu. They entered a tunnel carved into the rock wall, and Sonic was just opening his mouth, suddenly realizing with a jolt where they'd ended up - when a voice cut him off.

There were others in the teleporter room.

Sonic stepped in front of his friends, Tails nearly running into his back in his intense concentration on the locator signal, and put a finger to his lips. Then he crept up to the door, flattening his back against the wall just to the side of it and listening intently.

He could hear a faint hum, as though from a concentrated energy source, followed by what sounded like two people gasping in shock. "What… was that?" asked a voice - a voice that sounded all too familiar.

"That was the Iblis Trigger," said a deeper voice, one that sent a shiver down Sonic's spine for reasons he couldn't quite describe. "Your target - if you accept this task."

"Silver." Another voice, this one higher, more feminine. "We've been searching for a way to end this nightmare for years. Now we're being given a chance to end it before it even begins. I say we take his offer."

There was a pause, and Sonic's curiosity got the better of him. He edged to the side, peeking his eyes just over the edge of the doorframe to peer inside. He was right, it _was_ Silver, and standing alongside him, a cat in a tattered purple coat, and….

 _Shadow?_

No, not quite - the voice was off, and this hedgehog looked as though all the color had been sucked out of him - but the gloves, the shoes, even the shape and markings on the spines were identical. Sonic couldn't see his face from here, but the resemblance was downright eerie. And he was holding a Chaos Emerald - the purple one….

Silver looked troubled, biting his lip, his ears drooping, as though considering something painful. But after a second, he raised his gaze. "All right. We'll do it."

"Agreed," the cat said evenly.

Not-Shadow nodded and said, "I will send us back in time to the point when the Iblis Trigger was still alive. But you should know - I can only bring us to his last known location before the disaster. You will only have three days to complete your task - else, the Flames of Disaster will be released at sundown on the third day, and our chance at saving this world will be gone."

Sonic watched as Silver swallowed. "And uh, saying we do fail the first time - could you just bring us back to… try again?"

Not-Shadow gave him a piercing look, and Silver's gaze dropped again. "I would hope that you're not anticipating failure before your task has even begun, or else I have chosen the wrong champions for the cause…."

Silver averted his eyes. "Uh - no, of course, uh…."

"We won't fail," said the cat.

"Then prepare yourselves."

Then Not-Shadow raised both hands in front of his face, and a ball of strange, swirling purple energy appeared in the center of the room. It grew, spreading over the forms of the three other Mobians, and flashed brightly. Sonic flinched, and when he opened his eyes once again, the room was empty.

He glanced over at his companions, who had also taken up positions around the door and watched the scene alongside him. After a few moments of silence, they all relaxed, and Sonic led the way as they stepped cautiously into the now-empty teleporter room.

Time and abandonment had not treated the room well, but I t appeared to have been mostly shielded from the devastation of the outdoors - the computer was still humming against one wall, data still displayed on its monitor, and the metal of the floor and walls was rusted but intact.

"What the…" Knuckles muttered, glancing around. "Who was that guy?"

"He looked just like Shadow," Sonic said. "And I don't mean 'looks kinda sorta like him so let's accuse him of a crime he didn't commit and throw him in jail in Shadow's place,' I mean… almost _exactly."_

"Guys - th-this is terrible!"

Sonic and Knuckles' heads snapped around. Tails was already tapping away at the console in front of the display, and his voice was tinged with horror.

"Whoever that was left a lot of information open on this computer," he said as his friends stepped up beside him. "According to the data, back in our time, the princess died when she was kidnapped by Eggman. Apparently Eggman's battleship e-exploded…."

Sonic's stomach dropped unpleasantly.

"When?"

"Two days after the Festival of the Sun," Tails said quietly, looking sick.

Sonic stared up at Elise's picture on the screen, shaking his head, awful feelings creeping up throughout him. _Of all the days…._

"So if we don't return to before that moment," Sonic said, "Elise will die on board Eggman's battleship. And that just so happens to be the day that…."

Sonic trailed off, frowning at the look on Tails' face.

"Hey, don't worry," he said, changing tactics and putting a hand on his shoulder. Tails looked up at him through blue eyes full of poorly-concealed fear. "We're gonna make it back, and we're gonna stop it."

"Definitely," Knuckles said, punching his fist into his palm. "And then we're gonna celebrate! Uh, right?"

"Yeah," Tails said after a second, nodding. "Okay." He pulled his glove cuff back again. "I think we should contact the others. The emerald we were following disappeared along with those others, and I'm not getting any other strong signals nearby."

Sonic glanced back at the screen, back at Elise's picture, and bit his lip with worry.

"Man," Knuckles muttered behind him, "I sure hope that after we lost that emerald, Rouge doesn't turn up with one of her own…."

* * *

"Ahh-ha-ha!"

Rouge hadn't felt this happy since Shadow had blasted her way into Eggman's stolen base after her. She practically skipped at his side, the green Chaos Emerald held up in front of her face, gazing reverently at her prize. She'd found it lying in a dusty corner of the building they'd taken shelter in once the tornado had passed, abandoned and forgotten by time. So far, Shadow hadn't asked her for it despite her inability to harness its powers, but that was just fine with her.

"My precious Chaos Emerald," she cooed as they walked through the streets of the city, which seemed to have cleared of monsters once the storm had passed. "You are all _so_ beautiful."

The only point of beauty in a world otherwise devoid of it, a gorgeous spark of shimmering green in a cityscape of brown. She almost didn't notice as Shadow slowed next to her.

"Your mysterious brilliance…."

"Rouge," Shadow said suddenly, putting out a hand to halt her progress. She dropped the hand holding the emerald to her side, a little annoyed, but then her eyes widened at the sight of why he'd stopped her.

Unmoving in a shadowed corner, almost obscured behind a pile of rubble in the street, sat the familiar form of Omega. The red paint on his chassis was scratched and faded, and he was covered in a layer of thick dust and ash, but the form was unmistakable, the yellow Apotosi symbol on his shoulder still clear.

"Omega?" Rouge said, an unpleasant shock running through her. "What's he doing here?"

She rushed forward for a closer look. Omega's eyes were dark, weapons retracted. From behind her Shadow approached as well and paced around to the back, where he crouched and pressed at a panel set into the smooth metal. She knew that Omega had once taught him, far in the past, how to run diagnostics on his system. So she stood by, hugging her arms rather close in worry, the emerald in her hand momentarily forgotten.

After a few moments, Shadow sat back on his heels and let out a breath. "It seems he's in standby mode."

Rouge stared at him, at Omega, at the two closest friends she had in this world - one still fighting at her side, the other sitting discarded and ancient in a pile of rubble - and tucked the emerald away bitterly. For one brief moment, the wall she'd built to hold back her fears and worries about this world cracked. "What could have possibly happened to create this future?" she said, her voice breaking slightly.

Shadow just shook his head, his gaze fixed on the ground.

A beeping emanated from Rouge's wrist, and she automatically pressed a finger to it, to the button on the communicator resting underneath her long glove. "Yes, this is Rouge," she said, forcing herself to remain composed.

"Hi, it's Tails," the voice said through her hidden earpiece. "Listen, we found something, but it's a bit complicated. From what I'm seeing you're about the same distance from the edge of the city as we are - we should meet on the outskirts. I'll send you the coordinates."

"Understood. We'll be there in a minute."

Rouge cut the call and turned to Shadow, who hadn't moved. "It looks like Sonic and his friends have found something too. They want to meet up close by, at the edge of the city."

Shadow glanced at her, then his gaze slid back to Omega.

"Shadow, it's not like we can do anything for him now but move on."

His mouth twisted - he seemed to be biting the inside of his cheek - but after a few moments he nodded. "Yeah."

Whatever grief his facial expression lacked was conveyed through that one simple word.

 _Hard, so hard to leave a friend behind…._

He turned and brushed past her, not unkindly, just sadly, and Rouge found herself hesitating before she following, sparing one last glance for her friend, sitting abandoned in a city long since burned to ashes. Her fists clenched at her side.

 _Whatever it takes, we're ending this._


	12. Chapter 12

**_Outskirts of the New City ruins, in the apocalyptic future_**

By the time Sonic and the others made it to the rendezvous point, Rouge and Shadow were already there waiting. Just at the edge of the city stood a strange, unnatural-looking rock formation, and the ground, presumably once covered with soft dirt and grass, was now just a stretch of scorched, bare stone.

"You guys are so slow," Rouge said with a small smirk as they approached. She drew her hand from behind her back and held up her prize to their eye level. "Look!"

They all reacted at once - Tails' eyes widened, Sonic grinned, Knuckles blew out an irritable breath and turned away. "A Chaos Emerald!" Tails said, stepping closer to inspect the green gem glittering in Rouge's palm. "You've already found one!"

"Well now," she said drawing it back before Tails could touch it and spinning it idly in her fingers. "I may not look it, but I'm a real treasure hunter." Sonic watched with some amusement as she turned her gaze to the back of Knuckles' head and her smile grew wider. "Unlike a certain echidna I know…."

Knuckles stiffened and spun, putting his face in hers, their noses almost touching. _"What?"_

She just put a hand on her hip and matched him gaze for gaze, until he let out another frustrated sigh and turned away, pacing irritably.

"Have you guys discovered anything?" Shadow said, his arms folded.

"Well… yeah," Tails said.

"We _almost_ had an emerald," Sonic said. "Before we ended up here, some white-furred hedgehog with mind powers showed up outta nowhere and tried to kill me, yeah? Kept calling me an 'Iblis Trigger' or something. Well, we just saw him with two other people, and before they teleported away with the emerald they were talking about eliminating an 'Iblis Trigger' to stop the Flames of Disaster from being released."

"Flames of Disaster," Rouge muttered, shooting a glance around at their surroundings.

"Yeah, we had the same thought. That might be what caused this in the first place. Eggman kidnapped the princess of Soleanna to gain control of the Flames, but from what we've found, it sounds like he failed and something went horribly wrong…." Sonic frowned. "And one other thing. One of the people Silver was with, the one giving him this info and the one with the emerald… he kinda looked like you, Shads."

Shadow stared at him, but his face remained entirely impassive.

"I see."

Knuckles turned back around to look at him. "You know anything about this guy, Shadow? He was… pretty creepy."

Shadow and Rouge exchanged the briefest of glances, and Sonic raised an eyebrow.

"We've encountered him before," Shadow said after a moment. "Suffice it to say that he's dangerous, and if he's lurking around here, we should be on our guard."

Sonic gave him a look, but Shadow ignored it. _Stubborn guy…._

"Anyway," Tails said, once again tapping away at his watch display, "I picked this spot to rendezvous because I'm receiving a signal indicating there's another Chaos Emerald in the wilds outside the city. But, um…."

As one, everyone in the group turned to look away from the city and into the lands beyond. From here, Sonic could see a column of eerie-looking smoke rising into the air, twisted rock formations, air that shimmered with heat even high above the ground… it looked like a nightmare.

"You mean we've gotta go through _there?"_ Rouge said in faint alarm.

Knuckled huffed and shot her a glance. "If you don't like it, you can stay here."

Sonic had to wonder just how far she could jut her hip out if Knuckles continued to antagonize her. "You've _got_ to be kidding."

Tails cleared his throat awkwardly. "Um, guys, maybe we should focus on finding a way back to our own time before we start arguing."

"Yeah, I'm with Tails." Sonic glanced skyward, but the dark smoky clouds gave no indication of the time of day. "It was night when we were transported here. Anyone need a rest?"

"I could go for some sleep," Knuckles said.

Murmurs of agreement swept through the group.

"Maybe we should stay here for now then, and head into the wilds once we're freshly rested up." Sonic flashed them a sideways smile. "Can't fight fire monsters if you're not at your best, right?"

"I'll stand watch," Shadow said, unfolding his arms and glancing around. "I need less sleep than any of you. I'll wake you in a little while."

"Thanks, handsome," Rouge said, winking at him as he strode away to the edge of the area, which was enclosed on most sides by rocky walls, positioning himself to watch in the direction of the city for danger. Sonic stared after him for a moment, then turned back to Tails and Knuckles.

"C'mon, guys," he said. "Might as well get comfortable."

* * *

With the quiet as the rest of the party slept, Shadow's thoughts were free to wander for the first time since being transported to this world. And wander they did - he knew he should have been keeping a closer eye out for danger, but the landscape seemed to have quieted ever since the windstorm had dissipated.

He tried not to dwell too much on Sonic's report of Mephiles in the city ruins, but those slit-pupilled green eyes kept appearing in his mind's eye, and every time they did, his stomach twisted.

Shadow was so preoccupied, he didn't even heard the sound of footsteps behind him. He started as someone sat down next to him, and relaxed when he saw it was Rouge. On second thought, perhaps _that_ was why he hadn't heard her approach. There were faint bags under her eyes, which were mostly closed.

"Couldn't sleep, I assume," he said, turning his gaze back out to the city.

"Slept fitfully, more like," she said, rubbing at her eyes. Her makeup, normally so impeccable, was beginning to fade slightly, and her fur was becoming gray from the ash. "I kept having these fever dreams. After a while I figured it wasn't worth it to keep trying."

Shadow nodded. "I know what those dreams are like."

Rouge looked over at him, understanding glimmering in her eyes. "Yeah, you would, wouldn't you?" She sighed. "I don't envy you, handsome."

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Rouge tucking her knees up against her chest, staring out together at the destroyed skyline.

"This place is… worse than anything I've ever seen," she said quietly after a while. There was a note of sincerity to her tone that Shadow rarely heard her use, at least around others. "Worse than anything I saw when the Black Arms invaded. Hell, at least there were still _people_ alive back then.

Shadow remained silent. She was right, and it hurt.

"I don't often get scared, _really_ scared," she said, her eyes fixed on the ground now. "But now, I…."

He turned his gaze back to her, and she looked up. "You know how difficult the invasion was for me."

Rouge's eyes widened slightly. "Shadow, I didn't mean to - "

"And I agree."

She went silent.

"This is worse."

She sighed, and then surprised him by resting her head on his shoulder.

"Rouge, you know I don't age, at least not normally. I'll likely still be alive when this future comes to pass. I'll have to experience it firsthand." An ache, almost a sharp pain, ran through his chest. "I… admit that scares me."

"Oh, sweetie…." Rouge placed her hand on his arm, her head still resting on his shoulder. "I'll bet there's a way to stop this. You heard Sonic, he was going on about Eggman and the Flames of Disaster. If there's anyone who's practiced at stopping the doctor's mad schemes, it's that crazy hedgehog."

In spite of himself, Shadow couldn't help letting out a small huff of laughter. "I would appreciate it if he stopped this future from coming to pass. I might even owe him one."

"Oh, I'm sure you two can go on being sorta-friends sorta-rivals for a long time yet."

"I'm sure by now he's tired of fighting me. And losing."

That actually made Rouge snort. "Egotist."

Shadow just smirked out at the landscape. Somehow, this light banter was already making him feel better.

Rouge surprised him once again by lifting her head and pressing a light kiss to his cheek. "Don't worry, Shadow. I'm sure everything will work out in the end. Even death itself couldn't break you last time I checked."

He opened his mouth to reply, then froze.

Rouge's ears began swiveling madly beside him. Shadow could feel the faintest rumbling coming from the stone beneath him, and if he wasn't mistaken, the glow from the lava pits around the city were getting ever so slightly brighter.

Shadow and Rouge stood just as the rumbling began to grow stronger, shaking some loose stones and dirt from the rock formation they had been sitting against. Behind them, he could hear the sounds of the others rousing, grumbling, then noises of alarm as they realized something was wrong.

Sonic was the first to run up. "Hey, what's goin' on?" he said. "Some kinda earthquake?"

"Something is happening," Shadow said. "I think it's time to move o-"

A roar cut him off, and he whirled - a massive spout of fire and flying chunks of lava was rising from the center of the city they'd left behind. Shadow could hear fires starting and glass shattering even from here. The column writhed strangely like no natural phenomenon ever would, and then sucked itself directly up into the dark clouds overhead. And still the rumbling continued.

Shadow realized what was about to happen a split second before it did, seeing the rock at his feet redden with heat. "Get back!" he yelled, motioning to the others. "Get - "

Then an explosion rang out behind him, booming across the landscape, and more of the fire worms burst up from the ground, the heat hitting Shadow's face like a furnace, and he bared his teeth at them, furiously motioning the others back -

Rings exploded everywhere, impacting against the worms and causing them to screech and two to dissipate entirely. Shadow caught one of the rings in surprise only for it to dissolve in his hand - fake, artificially created. He drew his hand back and launched a Chaos spear into the final worm, turning it to smoke, and spun to find Tails standing at the front of the others, a slight look of shock on his face.

"Uhh," he said. "I helped."

"Great job, buddy," Sonic said, clapping him on the back.

The rumbling underfoot was still going on, and Shadow turned his gaze upwards, to the landscape of the wilds visible beyond their rocky shelter. Perhaps a few miles away, he could see what looked like more smoke and lava belching out into the air, as if from a volcano.

"There are no volcanoes around Soleanna," Rouge said next to him, as though she'd read his mind. She frowned. "Not on any maps I've ever seen…."

"Tails," Shadow said, not taking his eyes off the fire in the distance. "You said you were getting a signal from a Chaos Emerald in that direction?"

Tails nodded. "Yeah."

"Then that's where we're going."

"Hey," Knuckles said as they began to walk. "Nobody said anything about a volcano."

"C'mon, Knux," Sonic said, nudging him and grinning. "Don't you have a volcano on your island back home?"

"Mine is inactive," he grumbled. "If that's where we gotta go, though, no problem."

"There's that bravery of yours." Shadow blinked. The comment came not from Sonic, but from Rouge. She winked at Knuckles in a surprisingly amiable manner, and Knuckles looked like he didn't quite know how to handle it.

Shadow sighed. "Let's get moving."

* * *

The first difficulty they encountered in the wilds outside the ruins of Soleanna was rain - but not the kind of rain Sonic was used to.

He laughed as they ran, amusing himself by dodging flaming rocks spewed by the volcano. "Cool!" he shouted above the roar of lava around them, skidding to avoid a veritable boulder crashing down where he had been a second before. "It's raining fire!"

"Sonic, we're here to find a way out, not to play around!" Tails called. He and the others were taking shelter underneath a rocky overhang, and Tails in particular looked frightened, flinching as another fiery rock shattered not far from where he stood.

Sonic darted back underneath the overhang next to Tails. "Sorry, buddy," he said. "I figure as long as we're here, why not make the best out of a bad situation and have some fun?"

"Whoo, I'm sweating," Rouge said, fanning herself vigorously. "Don't get too close to that lava, boys, you'll burn to a crisp."

"I know," Knuckles huffed. "I wasn't born yesterday."

"Touchy, touchy."

"We don't have time to argue," Shadow muttered from Rouge's other side. "Let's just find this Chaos Emerald and get out of here as soon as possible."

Sonic flashed him a grin and a wink as the last rock fell outside. "No problem, Shads. We got this."

Tails and Sonic took point as they ventured out into the scorched wilds, Tails following the signal on his watch, Sonic leading the others and looking out for danger. Shadow and Knuckles protected the back, and Rouge flapped overhead, scanning the area and pointing the group to safer roads. Hot, molten lava flowed through the hills and crevices of the land between them and the volcano, the incredible heat making it dangerous to even get a few feet closer to the glowing pits, and more than once they had to make trips across cracks filled with the stuff, Tails and Rouge carrying the others over to safety.

The flame monsters also made their reappearance - birds, lizards, worms, even strange golems that tore rock from the ground itself to fling at them. Their progress was hampered constantly as more and more of the beasts attacked, dissolving into flashes of smoke and fire every time they were defeated, until Sonic was certain that they weren't dissipating permanently but reforming themselves again and again from the heat surrounding them.

And all the while, the volcano loomed above them, growing larger and larger as they walked.

"Is it just me," Knuckles said, staring up at it, "or is the signal taking us directly into that thing?"

"Not just you," Tails said, his eyes glued to the watch. "It's pointing us in a straight line for the center of the volcano."

"Can't say I fancy going in there, even for a jewel," Rouge said.

"C'mon guys, we can handle it." Sonic jogged ahead a few steps and turned around so he was walking backwards, facing the others. "We've fought all sorts of crazy things before. Soon as we find that emerald, we're outta here, and back home!"

"I hope you're right," Knuckles muttered.

Sonic turned to find himself faced with what appeared to be a cave mouth, leading directly to the interior of the volcano.

"We still going through with this?" Rouge asked.

Sonic cracked his knuckles. "Heck yeah! Let's see what this place has in store.

* * *

The tunnels wound deep into the crust of the earth, and even as they passed by more pools and rivers of lava, things still got darker and darker as they ventured in. The darkness felt unnatural to Shadow, though he said nothing - choking, thick, almost tangible, as though he could reach out and grab a handful of it if he wanted. He almost expected it to cling to the white on his gloves and shoes, and despite the heat, more than once he saw the others shiver involuntarily, as if they felt it too.

There were monsters in here, too - most made of the same fire as before, but some that were different. They flickered with a strange purple glow, and didn't seem to burn as hot as the others, indeed hardly seemed to burn at all. Their roars and hisses were distorted, and they almost seemed to melt into the ground after they were defeated.

"These things are giving me the creeps," Sonic said, watching the latest group of them dissolve into the rock beneath their feet.

"What do you think they are?" Knuckles said. "Some kinda… spirits of the volcano or something?"

"Silver mentioned something called Iblis before," Tails said, tapping his shoes against the rock to shake the dust and ash from them. "He called Sonic the 'Iblis Trigger.' Could that be a name for the personification of the Flames of Disaster? I've read up on Soleannan mythology, and the name isn't mentioned, but the Flames are quite a bit…."

"I don't know about that, but this level of destruction is almost enough to make me believe in those myths and legends," Rouge said wryly.

Everyone continued to chatter behind Shadow, most likely fueled by nervousness, as he led them further into the caves. He had just enough time to sense space open up around him as they stepped through what almost seemed like a rocky doorway into a larger cave, bubbling with heat, when he heard rock grinding on rock, and something slammed down where they had been standing just a moment before.

Shadow was the first to regain his balance and whirled - a huge rock had fallen, seemingly from nowhere, and blocked off the entrance to the cave, trapping them inside. "That was deliberate," he said through his teeth, touching the rock - despite the heat of the lava nearby, the stone felt ice cold to the touch. "Someone or something wants us in here."

"What?" Knuckles stepped forward. "Who? Aside from those guys in the teleporter room, we haven't seen anyone else in this place."

"Maybe we're not the only ones crazy enough to venture into the middle of an active volcano," Sonic said with a grin.

Shadow turned again to stare around at the cave they had entered - much of it was filled with lava, but this lava seemed cooler, crusted over with soft black rock and hissing quietly rather than roaring and roiling. Most definitely not safe to walk on, but perhaps not so dangerous to get near either. He motioned to the others and began to walk cautiously, hopping across small gaps onto solid footholds. The darkness was especially thick in here, and it only seemed to grow more so until he struggled to see even a few paces ahead.

"I don't like this," he could hear Tails mumbling quietly behind him. "This is bad, this is bad, I don't like this place…."

"Hey, buddy," Sonic said, his tone soft. "It's okay! C'mon, it's just an adventure, you got us with you. One more emerald and we're outta here."

"I know, but - "

"Hey, guys." Shadow stopped and turned to see the faint outline of Rouge several paces away. "Come over here, I found something."

The rest of the group gathered around her. She was standing in front of what looked like some kind of strange crystalline orb floating about a foot above the ground, pulsing with energy that Shadow could feel washing over him in waved. Against his better judgment, he stretched out a hand and brushed his fingertips against its surface, and everyone let out soft gasps of surprise as it lit up, an odd dark purple light shining out from its depths like a rocky gem.

He withdrew his hand, and the glow dimmed, leaving them once again bathed in darkness.

"What is this thing?" Knuckles said, a hint of wonder in his tone. He reached out to touch it as well, causing it to glow once more, and made to remove his hand when Rouge slapped her hand over his, keeping it pinned.

He shot her a glare. "Just what do you think you're doing?"

"Relax, sweetheart." Shadow saw her craning her neck and followed her gaze - the glow provided just enough light to cut through the darkness, and he realized what she was finding so interesting.

"There's more of them out there," he said.

"I count four, five including this one," Rouge said.

Sonic whistled. "Almost like some sorta puzzle."

"Right!" Tails hopped in front of the others. "I say we all try touching them, one per orb, at the same time. Maybe that will show us the way out of here!"

"It's worth a try," Shadow said, and Tails looked mildly pleased.

"I'll stay here with this one," he said, whirling his tails just enough to lift himself atop the orb, where he sat down. "It'll keep providing enough light for everyone else to see."

Knuckles marched off further into the depths of the cave in search of another orb, Rouge flapping overhead hot on his heels. Shadow and Sonic were left to take the remaining two. Sonic nudged him as they made their way across the rocky footholds over the lava.

"Hey, Shads," he said. "What do you think about all this? Pretty weird, huh?"

Shadow considered this. More than anything before, this sudden appearance of strange orbs and thick, tangible darkness disturbed him. It felt far too purposeful to be a mere accident, some random remnant of whatever had caused this disaster. "I think there's someone behind this," he said finally.

They reached the first orb, and Sonic hopped onto it, sitting in a fashion very similar to how Tails had, with his feet stuck out in front of him like a child. "D'ya think it might be that guy you said you knew? The one who looked like you?"

Funnily enough, the same thought had crossed Shadow's mind.

Instead of answering, he merely said, "We need to be careful," and walked the short distance to the final orb. Knuckles and Rouge were already touching theirs, further back in the cave, so that the whole area was filled with a strange, unearthly light. Shadow brushed his hand against the last one, and with a rumble, the wall nearest him suddenly crumbled away, revealing a path leading further in.

When he withdrew his hand, the orb shivered, then fell apart into shards which clattered against the ground. All around the cave he heard the others doing the same.

"That was the weirdest thing I've ever seen," Knuckles said as he and the others approached, shaking his head, "and I've seen a lot of weird things."

"We made it through," Sonic said, bounding ahead. "That's all that matters!"

They made their way through the newly opened passageway, and after a short, cramped tunnel, the space opened up once again, this time far larger, so large that at first Shadow thought they'd emerged outside. A dizzying distance above he could see the rocky ceiling of the massive cavern they'd emerged into, dimly illuminated by an enormous pit of lava spanning the entire floor, crusted over slightly with black rock but still boiling hot. Solid rocky footholds were scattered around just like in the dark cave, the largest of which they currently stood on just in front of the cavern entrance, overlooking the pit below. And in front of it, floating several feet above the ground suspended in midair, was….

"Aha!" Rouge leapt into the air and flapped forward, stretching out her hand. "I've found a Chaos Emerald!"

Shadow's eyes widened.

He opened his mouth and shouted "Don't touch it!" - but the final word was lost in a roar as, in a blast of heat, something massive emerged from the lava below, sending the emerald flying. Whatever it was took a snap at Rouge with jaws of fire, but the blast had blown her back, and she landed somewhat ungracefully on her feet in the center of the group.

Shadow took only a glance to make sure she was mostly unharmed, then darted forward, taking position at the front of the party and glaring up at the thing, ready for a fight. It looked like one of the fire worms they had fought before, but far, far larger, tall as a skyscraper, with horns growing from its grotesque face and three poisonous-looking green eyes with slitted pupils, all staring down at them with a mindless rage.

"What _is_ that?" Rouge gasped behind him.

"Mama Worm?" Sonic suggested.

"Do you think _that_ might be Iblis?" Tails said.

The thing flung its head back and made a horrible noise in the back of its throat, like rocks grinding together in the belly of the earth. "Take cover!" Shadow shouted, and balls of fire, like those that had rained from the volcano's mouth, exploded outward and began to fall toward them.

The group scattered, pressing themselves up against walls of rock as flaming bits of stone crashed and flew everywhere. Shadow heard Tails yelp as one of his tails briefly caught fire, then yelp again in pain as Knuckles stomped on it to put it out. Rouge hissed in anger at his side as she inspected her left glove, which now had a long scorch mark burned into its side.

The worm flipped backwards and dove underneath the lava as though it were water, and Shadow watched the disturbance in the flow as it swam beneath the surface. He and Sonic exchanged a look - that was all that was needed.

"Everyone else, stay _back!"_ Shadow yelled, and there was enough force in his tone that not even Knuckles argued. "Protect the emerald! Sonic and I will take care of this."

Calls of encouragement came from the other three as they stepped forward.

"Stay outta danger, guys!" Sonic called back as he and Shadow leapt off the edge together, onto one of the footholds closer to the lava. By the time they straightened up and readied themselves, the worm had already resurfaced, lava streaming off its sides harmlessly, and hissed in their direction.

"How d'ya suppose we beat this thing, Shads?" Sonic said, crouching and ready to run.

The heat was even worse down here, but Shadow forced himself to concentrate. He glanced around for an idea as the worm raised its head once more, readying for another fireball barrage, and that was when he saw them - more of those dark orbs, floating and pulsing around the cavern.

He shook his head. The coincidence was too great.

"Keep it distracted," he said simply, then darted to the side to avoid the fireballs. Sonic took his advice to heart and sped off, leaping easily from rock to rock, making a target of himself. The worm turned its massive head to face him, and roared, diving at him face first and cracking the foothold in two in the process. Sonic barely managed to dodge, even with his speed.

As Sonic kept up his routine, Shadow skated and leapt his way across the pools of lava until he'd reached the closest orb. He drew back his hand and fired a single Chaos spear into its center, and it burst with dark light, continuing to glow even though he wasn't touching it. He'd had a suspicion that these strange things had some sort of connection to Chaos energy - now to see how the worm would react.

Its reaction was even stronger than he'd expected. As soon as the orb lit up, the worm froze, ceasing its thrashing around, and dove under the lava's surface only to burst up from it again, its entire body becoming briefly airborne as it threw itself at the orb with all its might. Shadow leapt back in time to avoid being showered in flying lava, and the thing bashed its face into his foothold, cracking it.

A single green eye focused on him where he stood, and he drew back his hand again.

The Chaos spear hit its mark dead on, and the thing screeched, flailing around on top of the solid rock in its path and nearly hitting Shadow, sweeping him to his doom. He managed to leap high over it like some twisted game of jump rope, and clung to the face of the cavern wall nearby until the worm stopped its writhing and slithered back underneath the lava's surface.

"Way to go, Shadow!" Sonic yelled, skidding to a halt just below him. Shadow dropped back down, and together they stared out at the cavern, where some distance away the thing was resurfacing.

"Mind if I take this next one?" Sonic said with a sideways grin.

Shadow huffed slightly, unable to help returning the smile. "Be my guest."

Making a target of himself was child's play - Shadow made himself flare with bright energy, and fired several more spears in the worm's direction, less to harm than to get its attention. He dodged fireballs, sweeps from its tail, lunges at him with its head, and as he'd expected, after a minute it turned away, leaping toward something that Shadow couldn't see. The orbs attracted it, and powerfully at that - Shadow still didn't know what they could be, but right now, they were their best bet for getting out of here alive.

Sonic struck the worm's second eye with his spines, and once again it recoiled and screeched, this time slipping back into the lava within seconds. Everything went eerily quiet.

Shadow skated over cautiously to where Sonic had landed.

"I… was that it?" Sonic said. "Did we beat it?"

A tingle at the back of Shadow's skull gave him a split second of warning, and he yanked Sonic back as the ground beneath them exploded, the monster screaming as its head burst up from below. It barely hesitated before striking again at them like a snake, and Sonic and Shadow had no choice but to run, the worm chewing up every bit of rock in their wake and heating Shadow's heels.

He gritted his teeth and braced himself, then leapt up and forward, twisting midair and firing a spear backwards. The spear hit, but not directly - instead the bolt of energy struck the side of its remaining good eye, and it screamed and recoiled. As he landed, Shadow saw Sonic take his chance and reverse course, running straight at the thing and striking its final eye hard.

The scream it let out was choked, bizarre, and as Sonic and Shadow watched, standing panting and sweating next to one another on one of the few bits of solid rock remaining, the worm melted into a shapeless mass that reabsorbed itself into the lava below.

And all was quiet.

Shadow and Sonic exchanged a glance, and then cheers and relieved laughter broke out from almost directly behind them. They turned together to see that their chase had led them all the way around the cavern back to where they'd started, their friends watching from the ledge above. It was easy from there to leap back up, back into air that was marginally cooler and better protected from the blistering heat.

"Geez, that one was mean." Sonic wiped his brow.

"Do you have the emerald?" Shadow said, already glancing around in search of it.

Rouge smirked back at him. "With you, it's always business, I see." She pulled out the green one from before and then jerked her head at Knuckles, who Shadow turned to see standing there rather defiantly, holding the cyan one that had been hovering near the entrance. "Come on, big guy, let's use these things and get outta here."

Knuckles gave her a small smile, the first Shadow had seem him give since meeting up in this world. He nodded and tossed the emerald to Sonic, who caught it easily. Rouge handed Shadow the green one, and he and Sonic stepped forward, each holding their gem.

"So how's this go, Shads?" he said, tossing his up and down casually. "Your specialty?"

Shadow nodded and held his out, Sonic mirroring him until the gems were almost touching.

Then, as one, they shouted, _"Chaos Control!"_

The air between them sparked, flashed, began to warp. A second later, the group sound themselves standing in front of a swirling portal of light - the brightest, most welcoming thing Shadow had seen in this dismal world.

Sonic flashed a grin back at Shadow and the others. "C'mon, guys," he said. "Let's get back to the present!"

Without further hesitation, he leapt back into the portal, his form disappearing into it, and Tails and Knuckles were quick to follow. Rouge leapt into the air, hovering in place, and glanced back at Shadow.

"Hey, come on," she said, offering him her hand. "Let's get out of this hellhole."

Shadow reached up, then paused.

Something was prickling at the back of his neck, something unsettlingly familiar, something that made the pit of his stomach twist, something….

He turned his head.

Behind him, standing just at the mouth of the cavern entrance, was a gut-wrenchingly familiar figure, _his own,_ sapped of color, shimmering with dark light, green eyes staring at the ground. It raised its head, and their eyes met - and then its gaze flicked down to the green emerald still gripped in Shadow's hand.

"Shadow," Rouge said, her voice tinged with sudden urgency, "Shadow, come on, we have to get out of here, don't pay attention to him - "

 _Go,_ every rational part of his body screamed at him, _go, leave, get out of this world and get back to your own time, listen to your friend, forget about him and just LEAVE -_

He couldn't.

He turned, slapped the emerald into Rouge's outstretched hand, and gave her a hard shove - she gasped as she fell into the portal, and it closed with an unceremonial _pop,_ and Shadow spun and the form of Mephiles began to dissolve into darkness and fade into the blackness of the cave beyond, and he skated hard, moving fast, chasing the dark mist back into hell.


End file.
